Shinachiku's Next Adventure
by thesaiyanjedi
Summary: A year has passed since Konoha was invaded by Taka, and much has changed in the world. But now a new menace, created to be superior to humanity in every way, has a plan to make the world his own. Shinachiku Uzumaki stands in his way, but a familiar face from another world will soon come into the boy's life and things may never be the same. Sequel to "Shinachiku's First Adventure."
1. Chapter 1--Prologue

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with my next story, and here, at long last, is the anticipated sequel to "Shinachiku's First Adventure."

I know a lot of my followers have been waiting for this, and I feel like I have had enough time to distance myself from SFA that I can get into this now. What I can say, right up front, is that I do not expect this sequel to go on for as long as SFA ultimately did, which was fifty-one chapters that took me nearly two years straight to complete. Nevertheless, that does not mean that there will not be ambition to this story and big stakes, so just stay alert, because things are going to be quite different this time around.

Also, I am not able to promise how often you will be seeing updates to this story. I will stay active and get the chapters out as early as I can, but as we all know, life intervenes and things come up that get in the way. After all, writing fanfiction is meant to be a hobby, not a job.

One more thing, for those of you who have not read it yet, I encourage you to first take a look at the series I have just finished called "Konoha Tonight." It serves as a sort-of prequel to the events of this story, and will give you hints on a lot of the elements that we will see play out in this narrative.

Oh, wait, I also need to say that there is some graphic violence in this initial chapter, particularly in the description of one character's unfortunate fate near the end. Reader discretion is advised.

So, with all of that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Prologue**

 _CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!_

The train roared at peak speed down the tracks. Big, long, heavy, powered by steam made by burning coal. The lumbering metal beast clanged and rattled down the steel beams on their wooden supports at a lumbering 125 miles per hour. It was an invention dreamed up by a team of geniuses, pioneers, men of industry and vision that wanted to revitalize trade and transportation for the entire ninja world, and those men saw their opportunity to do so, ironically, with the rise of a terrorist organization.

Ever since the secret society known as Taka was forcefully brought out to the shadows last year, things haven't been the same. New alliances, a Shinobi Union, magical chakra gems, village elders turning into giant glowing monsters of godlike energy... How could one single, fateful day change the entire world so completely?

But alas, the world was truly different. And it was never going to go back. There was a bright side to all of that though, such as this train. Out of the near destruction of the Hidden Leaf Village came a reconstruction effort of truly epic proportions. A railroad system linking all five of the great nations together, elevated trains and subways, and most outrageous of all, a helium powered machine that can propel itself through the air, allowing the common man to fly above the ground like birds do and look down upon the earth like gods.

Of course, none of those things were on the minds of the passengers on board the train. These men, women and children were only concerned with completing their long and fast, but comfortable, journey from Konohagakure to the railroad station in Kirigakure.

"More tea please?" one of the gentlemen on the train said to one of the woman pushing the food cart.

"Certainly sir," the woman said. "What is your flavor?"

"Jasmine please."

The woman poured a fresh cup of tea and handed it to her customer before continuing down the line to take other customer's orders.

"Sir?" the woman called to a man sitting in a cabin all by himself. "Would you like something from the food cart?"

The man said nothing. He was leaned back against the wall of the train, not moving a muscle nor making a sound. He had a hood up so the woman could not get a clear view of his face. All she could use to describe him was his style of dress, which was very strange. His outfit was almost entirely white, consisting of a white sweatshirt, white pants, and a hooded white cloak that hid his face. Even his boots were white with gold trimming. There were also some threads of gold running along the seams of his outfit, and a silver belt that had a buckle in a strange six-sided diamond symbol of cut into six sections of different colors—red, green, blue, yellow, pink, and black—and within that shape was another six-sided diamond colored white, and with that was a very small, four-sided diamond colored gold.

"Sir?" the woman tried to speak to him again. Reasoning that the man had to be asleep, she decided to move along after she heard another passenger call for a bag of potato chips.

But, as soon as the woman was gone, the mysterious man reached into his pocket and pulled out a cellular phone. Dialing a number, he waited until the dial tone was done before he heard the static on the other line, knowing that his allies had to be on the line by now.

He spoke. "This is White, everyone report in."

Another voice came on the line. "This is Black, standing by."

And another. "This is Pink, standing by."

And another. "This is Yellow, standing by."

And another. "This is Blue, standing by."

And another. "This is Green, standing by."

And then the final voice. "This is Red, standing by."

"Read and Green," White spoke into his phone, "are both of you in position?"

"We are Master," Red answered.

"Good," White commended. "Now then, are all sides clear on the extraction plan?" White asked.

"Yes," Each of the six colors said at once.

"Do you really think that this will succeed in getting their attention?" Yellow asked.

"Yellow," Black groaned, "we discussed this. This will ruffle the feathers of the mob, Taka, and the Union alike. It will start the fire of change that the Master has promised for all of us."

"I just hope that we can get this over with quickly," Pink complained. "I did have other plans for tonight, you know."

"Save them for another time," Green said sternly. "We all have a job to do."

"Stand down Green," Red protested. "Remember, the Master has given _me_ second in command."

"Don't remind me..."

"Calm yourselves you two," White ordered them both. "We do not need any more unnecessary complications right now. Keep your sibling rivalry to yourselves."

"...Hai Master," Both Red and Green said in unison.

"Alright, everybody get into position, its time."

At White's command, the conference call shut off. The mysterious man referring to himself as 'White' stood up and grabbed something that he had resting beside him. It was a mask, a ghoulish looking white mask. Putting it on, he stepped out of his private booth and proceeded to walk down the aisle way while the train was still in motion. Some of the other passengers found the hooded man clothed in white a bizarre distraction, but a lot of them thought little of it. After all, shinobi from all across the Union traveled by train as often as civilians did, and they usually preferred to wear hooded cloaks.

...What _did_ make a number of them nervous was when some of them got a sight of the man's white mask.

The woman from earlier was currently in the middle of the aisle, in the stranger's direct path. She was finishing serving another customer when she noticed a familiar presence standing behind her.

"Oh, hello sir did you change your mind about—AH!"

The man in white grabbed the woman by the arm and flung her all the way down the aisle. She collided hard with one of the passenger's chairs, fracturing her arm severely.

"HEY!"

A Leaf ninja traveling on board stood up and immediately charged at the assailant. The ninja's taijutsu was impressive, especially given his severely limited space for fighting. Nevertheless, the masked man barely needed to exert any effort to bring the ninja to his knees.

"Weak." The man in white broke the ninja's hand in the fainted of motions.

"AAHHHH!"

The ninja screamed in agony, but nevertheless tried to fight with his remaining limbs. But every single one of them was broken, and nearly ripped apart by the masked stranger, leaving the Leaf ninja a shriveled mess.

"Does anyone else want to follow this one's example?"

The man in white spoke his question to everyone else in the train car, all of whom were staring in terror at the man's monster strength. None of them could find the courage to say anything.

"Didn't think so." With a whoosh of his cloak, the man in white opened the door to the next car and started walking down another aisle way, further and further to his destination.

"SHADOW POSSESSION JUTSU!"

A black mass suddenly came out and took hold of the masked man, holding him in place. It turned out a distant, minor member of the Nara clan was aboard the train and, under orders from the lead shinobi guarding the train's valued cargo, used his clan's signature jutsu to hold the assailant in place until backup arrived.

"AH!"

The door to the far end of the car opened up and in stormed a small squad of heavily armed, rather thuggish-looking ninja. With a sign from their captain, the Nara clan member moved his arms to force the assailant down to his knees. The Nara ninja did not hold back on how he tightened the binds on the masked man either, a sick, sadistic side of himself coming through.

As the passengers in the train car were all looking on in fascination, the leader of the ninja squad stood before the masked man. As he did so, one of his men snapped a pair of handcuffs to tie the stranger's arms behind his back.

"Get the passengers into one of the other cars," the squad leader ordered his men. While it was a bit difficult to properly motivate the passengers at first, they ultimately did succeed in transferring them into one of the now overly stuffed train cars. The squad leader now stood over the mystery man with a cocky, arrogant smile.

"Well, well, well," he said. "Seems like you've been causing quite a ruckus on this train, haven't you Whitie?"

The stranger said nothing.

Something snapped in the squad leader's already very short temper. He slapped the stranger straight across the face. Of course, all that did was seriously hurt several bones in his hand.

"OW!" The squad leader yelled as he held his hand. He then pulled out a kunai and pointed it directly at the stranger's masked face. "Tell me who you are?! What do you think you're doing here?! Why do you wear that stupid mask?!"

The stranger still said nothing, which only got the squad leader more fumed. "Talk! Now! Or this blade goes through your skull before your body goes under the tracks?!"

"Heh..." The soft, almost inaudible laughter came from the stranger himself.

"You think this is funny, freak?" the squad leader protested.

"I do," the man in white said. "I find it amusing that an inferior specimen like yourself has the redundant thinking to stab a man in the face before throwing him under a train."

"Who are you?"

"I am your superior."

The squad leader cocked his eyebrow in confusion and looked to his teammates before turning back to his captive and snickered.

"Heh. I think you've got things ass-backwards bub. I'm the leader of my own ninja squad and you're just some nut in a white mask and a cloak."

"You misunderstand," the stranger said. "I am not your superior in rank."

"What then?"

 _"...Everything."_

There was something about the stranger's tone, something that cut right to the squad leader's core. Something that pierced his very soul. For a man who was so full of bravado just a second ago, it took all of the will he had to recklessly rip that damned mask off of the stranger's face.

 _"GASP!"_

It was a face that the ninja and the passengers alike had never seen before, and yet a face that they all knew so well...or rather _two_. It was a young man, say in his early-to-late twenties. The young man was in physically superior condition, with a handsome and comforting bone structure. His hair was black with blonde tips and bangs hanging over one of his eyes, which were blue with mesmerizing onyx pupils. On each of his cheeks were three distinctive markings similar to the whiskers on a fox.

"You...You're..."

The stranger smiled at the squad leader's incredulous reaction. "No, I am neither the one you call Hokage or the one you call Uchiha. And yet I am also both of them. Which means, of course, that I am their better."

"W-Who are you...?"

"My name is Sugure Mashita. And you may consider me the harbinger of the new age." The man narrowed his eyes. "A far better messenger than those deranged zealots _you_ are smuggling $68 billion ryo in the cargo car for that is."

The squad leader was shocked. "Y-You don't know what you're talking about!"

Sugure rolled his eyes, "Of course I don't. 'Hail Taka' indeed."

The ninja drew his blade again and pointed it directly at his throat. "Shut up! I ain't no Taka spy! I ain't never took a dirty ryo on my life!"

"Not _today_ , maybe."

The squad leader, now sweating buckets off of his forehead, had finally had enough of this. One way or another, this freak was going to die now.

"Well congratulations freak! You managed to cause a small ruckus and then got yourself caught. Hope you're proud of yourself."

"I will be," Sugure said, before his smiled again. "After my plan is finished."

A cold shiver went through the spines of every ninja in the train cart save for their prisoner. The squad leader, again, dared to ask. "W-What plan?"

"Wrecking this train..."

 _BOOM!_

The train came to a sudden halt, throwing most of the passengers and crew down to the ground and even causing a few injuries. The jolt was enough to even force the Nara clan member to loose his control of his Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"...With no survivors!"

Sugure was free. The first move the mystery man made was to kick the squad leader super hard, so hard that he literally flew through a solid metal door into the next train car filled with screaming passengers. That kick was delivered with the same ease as a basic taijutsu move, no concentration of chakra to amplify the stranger's own strength whatsoever. Whatever the man in white's monster strength was, it was _all_ him...

After that Sugure started fighting all of the remaining members of the ninja squad.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Sugure created four additional copies of himself, all of whom took on three ninja a piece. They murdered all of those men...by punching through their bodies and crushing their heart's in their hands!

Another wave of ninja came into the same car, not even waiting for orders to begin their attack.

"SHARINGAN!"

The fabled dojutsu of the Uchiha clan was activated by the original Sugure and all four of his copies. Once the men made eye contact with the tomoe swirling in the man's blue eyes, they all became trapped in a genjutsu and found themselves unable to move...

...Which left them wide open for attack when the side of the train car literally got pulled open, sending sheets of metal flying out onto the plains as two men dressed in similar garb and robes to Sugure, one in red and the other in green, leaped in through the open hole in the train.

"LIGHTNING BLADE!"

Both of the masked assassins used their alike jutsu to electrocute the entire ninja squad to death in a horrifically gruesome manner. Now the two of them were all alone with their leader.

"Master," the man in red bowed.

"Master," the man in green did the same.

"Geki, Burai, well done so far you two."

The two men each took off their red and green masks, revealing that the two of them were, in fact, identical twin brothers. Both of them were only slightly younger in age than Sugure was, and they both had silver hair with black eyes, and narrow jaw lines that complimented a pair of handsome young faces, except that the one in green, Burai, had a vertical scar running down his right eye.

"Where are the others?" Sugure questioned.

The brother in red, Geki, answered for the two of them. "Dan is outside holding the train in position just as you ordered master. Goushi, Boi and Mei are all onboard the train purging this world of the rest of these lesser beings."

"Well done."

"This would have gone much quicker if I had been co-leading this mission," Burai cursed.

"But you are not," Sugure stated. "Your brother is my number one and you are my number two, and for good reason...Or have you forgotten that fact already?"

Burai turned his head to the left to face his scar away from his leader. "No master."

"Good. Now lets get what we came for and get out of here."

As the three men went through the train, car by car, they used their superhuman strength and colorful mixes of jutsu to slaughter any and all that were unfortunate enough to bare witness to their presence, or were foolish enough to try and challenge them.

Throughout the rest of the train, three other hijackers in multicolored robes, clothes and masks—a man dressed in black, a woman dressed in pink, and a teenager dressed in yellow—went through the train massacring everyone they came across. Men, women, children, it did not matter. None of these people were worthy of survival. Orders were orders. No witnesses.

"Mei! Boi!" The man in black called out to his two teammates. "You two keep at this. I'm going for the conductor."

"Hai Goushi!" The woman in pink and the boy in yellow said as one.

While the two of them continued their killing spree, the one called Goushi did as he promised, making his way to the front of the train, punching in the door and staring down the conductor.

"Please don't hurt anyone else! Take me instead! I'll give you Anyt—AAGGHH!

Goushi grabbed the conductor by his throat and held him up in the air, He then removed his own mask, revealing a face of very fair skin with dark brown hair tied in a ponytail. His eyes were pupiless, with a slight tint of lavender in them. They were the eyes of the Byakugan, and they would be the last eyes this poor man would see before he died.

"Your proposal is acceptable."

 _CRUSH!_

The conductor's body fell to the floor with a thud, lifeless. Goushi then coldly walked over to the controls and pulled all the levers he needed to in order to stop the train. It wasn't going anywhere anymore.

After his job was done, Goushi stepped out of the front of the train and bore witness to his teammates handiwork. Dozens of passengers, crew and shinobi alike were all dead, blood splattered everywhere. It was a massacre, one carried out with cold, ruthless precision.

"Good work you two," Goushi said, "Now lets get back to the brothers and the master."

The other two of them nodded and as they walked with their teammate, they both removed their own masks.

The woman in pink had fair skin and pale white eyes, again with a tint of lavender, the Byakugan. Her hair was long and pale blonde, with a single pink streak. Her overall demeanor was very stylish and cute, with a healthy and fit woman's physic. If there was any possible flaw to be found in her appearance, it would have to be the presence of her large, prominent forehead.

As for the boy in yellow, he had short, tufty blue hair with pupiless dark eyes. As the youngest member of his team, he was naturally the shortest in height. But perhaps his most curious feature were his pointed, jagged teeth, almost like a shark's.

Making their way through the horror show that was once the train, the three of them managed to overlook that there was still one remaining survivor, a little girl, now orphaned, too traumatized to make a sound or do anything else but curl up in her hiding place.

Finally making it to the cargo hold, the three of them caught up with their two teammates and their master. They were in the final car on the train, the cargo car, and they found that there was still one last shinobi on board with them...the squad leader that had questioned Sugure earlier.

"You think you freaks are gonna get away with this!" He yelled. "You have any idea who you're stealing from?! You freaks are dead, you hear me?! DEAD!"

"We know exactly who we're stealing from fool," Burai stated.

"That large crate behind you contains 68 billion ryo, all of which is being laundered to the remaining leaders of Taka," Goushi outlined.

"Including a certain Sand Village elder who's about to go on trail, if I'm not mistaken," Geki remarked.

Sugure himself stepped forward. "Step aside now, and let us take what we need."

The squad leader pulled out a tantō sword and held it towards his enemies. "I'd rather die than surrender to you!"

"So be it..."

Something changed in Sugure then. No, not changed, _transformed_. His cerulean eyes, still filled with the tomoe of the Sharingan, also took on a vertical pupil running down the center of each of them. The color of the eyes themselves changed from blue to red, and a strange, yet terrifyingly familiar, red aura started bubbling around Sugure's form. The whisker marks on his face became more pronounced, and his teeth became more fanglike. Even his fingernails grew longer from the transformation.

The terrified ninja dropped his weapon, unable to comprehend what he was seeing. Only one person in the world was supposed to have this kind of power, and that man was sitting at his desk lording over Konoha right now.

The ninja was unable to scream because the transformed man in white had him trapped in his still active Sharingan. He grabbed the ninja by both sides of the head, grinding his fingernails into his skin for a solid grip.

"You have served your masters well ninja. Consider yourself...relieved of duty."

Knowing that this was the end, the ninja could only do one thing before his end came. He smiled and quietly uttered two words. "Hail Taka..."

With a disgusting sound, the man called Sugure ripped apart his captive's skull with his bare hands! Blood splattered everywhere, and the man's brain sloppily bounced as it landed on the floor of train car. With a thud, the now dead Taka spy's corpse was dropped to the floor.

Sugure spoke to his fellow murderers and he pointed to the crate. "Bring it."

Goushi and Boi both lifted the heavy wooden crate all by themselves. Meanwhile, Geki and Burai both went to the far end of the train and ripped the back metal wall apart with their own bare hands, much like they had done before.

When their escape route was opened, the light shined in and they could see their final teammate was still outside doing his job. He was disguised just as they all were, except his color of choice was blue. He was holding the train in place with a giant pair of hands made entirely out of sand.

"About time you guys finished up. It was getting boring out here."

Goushi rolled his eyes. "The joke's on you Dan. I killed the conductor and shut the whole train down already. You don't need to hold it in place anymore."

The man in blue sweat dropped in embarrassment. "I-I knew that."

The man called Dan's sand hands let go of the train and dissipated back into a small gourd he kept at his side. He then took off his own mask, revealing the face of a tall, dark skinned young man with short, spiky auburn hair. His eyes were pale blue-green with tanuki-like black eye rings surrounding them. He also had a small, thin auburn mustache growing underneath his nose.

"Here, catch."

Goushi and Boi tossed the create of money towards Dan, who instantly reformed his giant sand hands to catch their prize. With that, the rest of the group stepped out of the train and joined their teammate's side.

"What now master?" the youngest of the group asked of their leader.

"Destroy this worthless hunk of steel. We have the money now to pay for what we need. Our work here is done."

Under Sugure's command, Dan's sand hands crushed the remains of the train and tore it into pieces. The little girl inside, the sole survivor, knew that she needed to get out now or she was surely going to die with her family. And so, she found one of the earlier openings that those monsters in the colorful robes tore open in the train and jumped out of it, bruising herself as she fell out and onto the ground, tumbling away. She took shelter under a giant piece of metal, out of sight of those monsters.

In the distance, she could see the seven of them walking away, with a single box being carried with them by a pair of giant hands made of sand.

The girl did not know how long she stayed hidden there, out of sight, unable to make any noise or speak a single syllable. All she could hear were rapidly approaching swooshing sounds and the noise of feet rapidly running across the plains as shapes that resembled Leaf ninja were in the far distance, running in her direction...

* * *

Well, there you go, the first chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure" is in the can!

I'm sure some of you might be surprised that this first chapter feels shorter than some of my other work, and that neither Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, or even our title character himself, Shinachiku, are anywhere to be found in this first chapter. But the reason for that is very simple. This chapter exists for a singular purpose: to introduce and establish the threat of our new villain.

My main inspirations for this chapter were the opening prologue scenes of both "The Dark Knight" and "The Dark Knight Rises", although I think the latter film ended up taking the dominant influence by the end. I wanted a scene separated from our main heroes where we got to see our villain and his team carrying out a plan to get something they wanted, for reasons we do not yet know. Also, to make it clear from whom they are stealing from that these characters are _not_ members of the Taka organization that I introduced in SFA. The setting of the scene on a train was inspired by how Bane was introduced on a moving plane in Nolan's final Batman film, even with some similar dialogue. The idea of our main villain and his team all wearing masks and colorful uniforms, however, as well as the twist of who they are daring to steal money from, owes more to the Joker and his gang robbing the bank at the start of "The Dark Knight", minus the infamous angle where all of Joker's men are duped into killing each other for a bigger cut of the loot.

As for our villain himself, his name is Sugure Mashita. I actually introduced him back in the very last scene of the final chapter of SFA. His origins have ties to Orochimaru, and he might have been created with a more specific purpose that he is not necessarily following now. His name is a splitting up of _suguremachista_ , which is the Japanese word for "superior."

You may have noticed from the way I described his appearance that he sounds awfully familiar. I'm not going to spill it all out here, but consider Sugure's physical features, and the abilities he is displaying here, and you can probably figure out what he is and what is going on. I will admit this much however, one of my main influences for creating this character came from Star Trek, namely our favorite 90s superhuman dictator, Khan Noonian Singh. Yes, **"KHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNN!"**

As for the rest of Sugure's team, you probably noticed the widely broad color palate of the uniforms they were all wearing. This is a tribute to a childhood passion of mine...Power Rangers! The colors they wear are red, black, blue, yellow, pink, and green, with Sugure himself in white. The names of each member of Sugure's team are directly taken from _Kyōryū Sentai Zyuranger_ , the sixteenth installment of Super Sentai, and the one that the first season of _Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers_ was based on. Obviously, I chose then Japanese names instead of the American names to make it fit in with the Naruto universe better.

I think that's all I've got for right now. I hope you all enjoyed this first chapter, and I hope I've got you all hooked for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	2. Chapter 2--It's Not Easy

Hey everyone, thesaiyanjedi here with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I want to thank you all for your patience as I worked and tried to figure out how this chapter should play out. I will give you a bit of a warning that there will be some developments of one of the main characters that some of you might not be too enthusiastic about, but I will talk about that more at the end of the chapter.

So, with that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 2: It's Not Easy**

The Anbu Black Ops rushed at their top speed to the sight of the wrecked train. Dressed in their signature Jōnin vests and white animal masks, the two captains of the squadron—one with the red and white fan crest of the Uchiha clan on the back of his vest, the other wearing a backpack containing a sketchbook with several paint brushes and vials of ink—immediately pointed fingers to instruct their men to start digging through the debris for any hope of finding anyone still alive.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" the artist captain asked of his partner.

"...Yes," the Uchiha captain said.

"Oh, forgive me—"

"Never mind it, lets just finish this search and report back to the Hokage."

"I don't think that will be necessary."

"Why is that?"

The other Anbu captain pointed his finger out into the distance, causing the other captain to turn his head and see a troop of civilians approaching the crime scene. They saw that at least one of the civilians was carrying a camera along with them, and at the front of the troop was an attractive woman with straight black hair and dressed in a sleek business suit and skirt.

"Dammit," the Uchiha captain cursed under his breath.

"Hey, isn't that that reporter woman, Motoko Katsuragi, from _Konoha Tonight_?"

"...Yes..."

"Didn't she do a profile on you a few weeks ago?"

"I suppose. I didn't watch it."

"What should we do about this?"

The Uchiha turned to his partner. "What do you think? We set up a perimeter and make sure these annoying reporters stay the hell out of our way while we work."

"...You really don't like reporters, do you?"

"I don't like people wasting my time when I have real work to do."

"Captain Uchiha! Captain Yamanaka!" one of the Anbu called out. " Come quick! I've found a survivor!"

Immediately, the two captains ended their discussion and dashed over to a gigantic piece of metal. Helping to lift it aside, they found the sole survivor of this disaster, a little girl that was bruised, cut, bleeding, and utterly traumatized from whatever horrors she had just witnessed.

The Uchiha captain spoke to her first. "What is your name?"

The girl said nothing. She seemed just as afraid of them as she was of whoever caused this.

Something inside of the captain's brain was quick to catch on to what was the matter with her. "Everyone, take off your masks."

"Why sir?" one of the Anbu questioned.

"We're obviously scarring her. Just trust me."

They all did as they were told, revealing the faces of all the Anbu ninja to the terrified child, including the faces of the two captain's. One was a man with very pale skin that contrasted with his short, black hair and black eyes. The other captain, the one from the Uchiha clan, was fair-skinned with onyx-black eyes and black, spiky, chin-length hair in bangs hanging over his face, particularly over his left side.

"What did you see?" the Uchiha asked the girl. "Who is responsible for this?"

Seeing the Uchiha's face, the only thing the girl could do was point directly the man that was questioning her. "Y-You are. You and the Seventh Hokage."

...

* * *

...

"Caller 3, name Yukio Shirahama, your on the line now dear."

Surrounded by cameras, sitting on a studio set, was a tall man with bright blonde hair and enchanting blue eyes, and three distinct markings resembling the whickers on a fox. He was dressed in an orange sweatshirt with three black stripes running along the ends of each of the sleeves and the bottom of the sweatshirt, together with a pair of black pants. His right arm was entirely wrapped up in bandages.

This man was none other than the Seventh Hokage, the leader of Konohagakure, Naruto Uzumaki. An extremely busy man ever since the end of Taka's invasion of the village last year, it took quite a bit of rescheduling to secure the time for a televised interview, yet alone one that was coming at the insistence of the middle aged, brown haired, grey-suited journalist he was taking questions from now, Daisuke Kishiyama, host of the village's most popular investigative news program, _Konoha Tonight_.

Naruto had been taking questions from Daisuke all night as well as a couple call-in questions from his own villagers. Some of them have been pretty tough, like whenever they questioned him about his rigid Internal Affairs investigations into his own ninja ranks to root out Taka's influence once and for all. Or people were accusing him of nepotism for promoting his son to captain of the Chakra Gem Recover Squad and his best friend to a captain in the Anbu Black Ops. Or the questions he got about what was really going on down in the prison cell of war criminal Uragi Rimonō. Or when they asked him about the escape of one of his earliest enemies, Mizuki, from the Strict Correctional Facility during the attack last year.

But now, this next caller asked him the last question he was ever expecting tonight.

 _"Yeah, hi Naruto, I had a question I wanted to ask you."_

"Go ahead dear."

 _"Well, um...is it really true that you and Sakura are having another baby?"_

The blonde paused in his seat. 'What the?! How did she...? I guess Sakura's stomach is becoming even more obvious than we thought...Oh well, I guess we had to come clean about it some time."

The Hokage laughed. "Yes, yes we are. Sakura's about three months along now, and we still don't know if its a boy and a girl yet. Next caller."

Suddenly something happened. Instead of taking Naruto's suggestion, Daisuke instead went silent as he was listening intently to something that was coming in on his microphone earpiece.

"I-I-I'm sorry to interrupt right now," Daisuke said live on the air, "but we've been informed of some breaking news here in Konoha. My colleague, Motoko Katsuragi, is reporting outside Konoha railway station, where we're hearing that seven men have caused a train wreck after robbing apparently $68 billion ryo in gold out of one of the train's cart."

Naruto was sitting there, forced to listen in as this breaking news was coming in. Anybody watching this live could clearly see that their leader was quite disturbed by what was going on as he was on the edge of his seat, listening carefully himself.

"Motoko," Daiuske said as they received video feed from his co-host live at the scene, "what's the situation there? It doesn't look like you're anywhere close to the train."

When Motoko came on the feed, it was clear that she was not actually at the scene of the wreck herself, but there were Anbu Black Ops and a crowd of onlookers gathered around her as she began her live report.

"That's right Daisuke," she said. "We're at the station right now with a crowd of onlookers and press here being held back by Anbu Black Ops. We're a couple blocks away from the crime scene where the train went off the rails. Authorities still have a perimeter set up around the area due to heavy amounts of damage and debris spread out all over the area."

Daisuke held his chin in his hand as he pondered all of this. "What is the status of the passengers and the seven train robbers at this point?"

"All but _one_ of the passengers and crew aboard the train are all dead. Most of them took physical blows to the body, and some have seemingly been killed by high level jutsu, while the head guard in charge of securing the money got the worst of it, reportedly having his entire _skull_ ripped apart by the lead robber's bare hands! The sole surviving passenger is now safely in Leaf village custody."

Naruto was disgusted. This sounded utterly horrific! He had no idea who these monsters were or whether of not they were still more Taka agents, but he know that what was most important right now was to get an identification on them so that, if they were more corrupt ninja from his own village, or criminals who's names were in the bingo book, then they could be quickly identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

In a dead serious tone, Naruto whispered over to Daisuke, "Any identification on the perps?"

Motoko," the host said to his colleague under the Hokage's suggestion, "have any of the assailants been identified at this point? Do we know?"

Motoko shook her head. "No, there's been no reports on what the train's black box footage reveals. But, according to the only living eyewitnesses, each of the six men, and one woman, was disguised in multicolor outfits, robes, and each of the seven wore a different colored mask—red, black, blue, yellow, pink, green, and the leader was wearing white. They also allegedly showcased terrifying levels of strength and intelligence that, according to the eyewitness, suggested that the robbers were 'superhuman.' So there's been no identification thus far. We're still waiting to hear more."

Naruto was totally beside himself with perplexity. His mind was a blank from the bizarreness of what he had just heard from the anchor.

Daisuke figured that, with so little time left in the broadcast, he needed to leave it at that and wrap this up. "Okay Motoko, we certainly thank you. Please keep us updated."

"Of course."

With Motoko's coverage cut off, the cameras turned back to Naruto with his head in his hand for a moment as he was still taking in what he had just heard, and also preparing a comment on this situation that he knew the audience was going to be expecting before he left to go where he knew he needed to be.

"And we'll be tracking that story on _Konoha Tonight_ ," Daisuke said to the cameras before turning back to his guest. "Well, Lord Seventh, you certainly have your hands full in this city. We certainly appreciate you being here tonight."

"Daisuke," Naruto began, "let me say right here that putting pressure on Taka and all the other criminals so they think twice before committing _horrible_ crimes like this, that's our goal. Now if you don't mind, I feel I need to get down there and see this for myself."

"We understand, and we thank you for coming on, Lord Hokage."

"You're welcome."

The Orange Hokage hastily took off his microphone and set it in his chair before he stormed off the set and out the door of the studio. He could hear Daisuke making his closing announcement to the camera about next week's show, something about an interview with the new daimyō, but he hardly paid any attention. No, what mattered right now was that he get down there to that train wreck.

'With any luck Sasuke and Sai are down there leading the Anbu keeping the villagers back...By the way, I'd better call Sakura and let her know what's going on.'

As he kept walking, doing his best to ignore the producers and other patrons that were trying to talk to him as he made his way through the building, he got out his cell phone and called his house. After the dial tone rang a couple of times, the answering machine came on and he heard the message that his wife had recorded for them.

 _"Hi, you've reached the Uzumaki household. We're not in right now, but please leave a message at the sound of the beep and one of us we'll get back to you soon. Thank you."_

After the beep, Naruto started speaking. "Hey honey, its me. Listen, I don't know if you saw the news, but there was a train wreck outside the village. A lot of people died and the robbers stole $68 billion ryo in gold from the train. I'm heading over there now—"

A sound came on the other end, indicating that somebody had just picked up the phone.

"Hello?" Naruto asked, expecting it to be his wife.

"Naruto?"

"Huh? Oh, hi mom. Are you home alone?"

"No, your father and I are here watching Hanami. We all saw what happened during your interview. That sounds horrible."

"I know. Listen, is Sakura there?"

"No sweetie, I'm afraid not—Wait! I think the door just opened. Hang on just a minute dear."

Naruto kept walking as he waited patiently for somebody else to pick up the line. But then, after a couple of seconds, he could hear her voice.

"Hello?"

"Sakura?"

"Yes Naruto, its me."

" Listen, I don't know if you saw the news, but somebody caused a train wreck outside the village—"

"I know Naruto, I saw the breaking news report on my cell phone."

"...Oh."

He could hear his wife sighing on the other end of the line. "You're going down there, aren't you?"

"I have no choice. There's only one survivor of this disaster I need to find out what she knows. Besides, the villagers expect their Hokage to look into something like this personally."

"And your family expects you to spend time at home with us."

The blonde stopped walking after her outburst. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Naruto, your family needs you here too!"

"What do you expect me to do Sakura? I'm the Hokage, this is my job!"

"You never used to put you job over your family before."

"I never said I did."

"No, but you sure have been acting like it! For a year now you've been coming home super late, you're hardly ever home for dinner anymore, me and the kids barely ever see you anymore."

"I've been busy."

"So have I, but I still come home to my family every night, instead of making my job more of a priority than spending time with the people I love. You know, like you _used_ to be!"

"Sakura, we've talked about this, I have a responsibility to this village, especially after what Taka did—"

"Taka? Naruto, I understand that Taka's done a lot to hurt this family, but all your interrogating your own men, you looking up every lead that comes in about the chakra gems, all these late hours you're putting in at work..."

Naruto was starting to get the picture. "You think I'm taking things too far."

"No, I think you're becoming obsessed."

" _Obsessed?_ Is working hard to keep my village and my family safe an obsession to you?"

"It is when you start caring more about protecting your family than spending any time with them. It is when you start sleeping at your office instead of coming home to the rest of us! And don't go saying that its just me, your mother and I both agree! At least Shina's on missions away from the village, so he has an excuse. For goodness sake, Karin's been talking to me, and _Sasuke_ comes home more often than you!"

"...Sakura..."

He could hear her breaking into tears on the other line. "Naruto...I...I love you, but...I don't want our baby to grow up barely knowing their father."

The jinchūriki almost dropped the phone in shock. That stun, and it stun _hard_. "Sakura—"

"Go do what you have to do Naruto. I'll leave you leftovers in the fridge again. Bye."

And just like that, she hung up the phone.

Naruto didn't move from his spot, his phone still hanging in his hand so loosely that even the slightest twitch from his fingers would allow it to fall to the ground.

'She...She doesn't get it...None of them get it. I'm the Hokage, everything I do, I do for them. My wife, my kids, my people...I do so much and I have to make so many hard choices...Maybe I have been loosing sight of what's important lately?'

To be Hokage, that was Naruto Uzumaki's dream, but nobody ever told him it was going to be easy...

 _I can't stand to fly  
_ _I'm not that naive  
_ _I'm just out to find  
_ _The better part of me_

 _I'm more than a bird, I'm more than a plane  
_ _I'm more than some pretty face beside a train  
_ _And it's not easy to be me_

 _Wish that I could cry  
_ _Fall upon my knees  
_ _Find a way to lie  
_ _About a home I'll never see_

 _It may sound absurd, but don't be naive  
_ _Even heroes have the right to bleed  
_ _I may be disturbed, but won't you concede  
_ _Even heroes have the right to dream  
_ _And it's not easy to be me_

 _Up, up and away, away from me  
_ _Well, it's all right, you can all sleep sound tonight  
_ _I'm not crazy  
_ _Or anything_

 _I can't stand to fly  
_ _I'm not that naive  
_ _Men weren't meant to ride  
_ _With clouds between their knees_

 _I'm only a man in a orange jacket, see  
_ _Looking for a ramen stand on this one way street  
_ _Only a man in a orange jacket, see  
_ _Looking for special things inside of me  
_ _Inside of me  
_ _Inside me  
_ _Inside me  
_ _Inside of me_

 _I'm only a man  
_ _In a orange jacket, see  
_ _I'm only a man  
_ _Looking for a dream_

 _I'm only a man  
_ _In a orange jacket, see  
_ _And it's not easy  
_

 _It's not easy to be  
_ _Me_

"Lord Seventh?"

The blonde Hokage turned his head in the direction of the voice to see a Jōnin standing there calling for him.

"Sir?" he spoke again, "Captains Uchiha and Yamanaka are waiting for you at the crime scene sir."

Looking down at the ground, he took a deep breath and tucked his phone back into his pocket. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

At the Uzumaki house, Sakura was sitting at the dining room table. She wasn't crying, though a part of her wanted to. No, she just sat there with her head buried in her arms.

She did not hear an eight-year-old girl with pink hair that matched her own coming into the room because her footsteps were so quiet. She had no idea that the girl was there until she could feel her hand touching her arm.

"Mommy?"

Sakura looked up to see her daughter standing there looking at her. "Y-Yes Hanami?"

"Is daddy coming home tonight?"

There was a brief silence before the thirty-six year old woman finally answered her. "Gomen Hanami, but daddy's going to be late again tonight. Something very important came up that he needs to see to."

"Is it about what happened with that train on TV?"

"I'm afraid so sweetie."

Hanami was clearly disappointed. "Daddy's never home anymore."

Sakura brought her daughter into a hug. "I know sweetie, I know."

Looking in from the hallway, a much older, though younger looking, woman with long, red hair and violet eyes stared at the scene with her own sense of sadness, her hand over her heart. She felt a hand on her shoulder and did not need to look up to see who it was. It was the love of her life, a man her own age, who also looked much younger than he really was, with spiky, bright blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Our boy's becoming so distant now," Kushina said more to herself than to her husband.

Minato looked at the scene of his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter and had to agree with her. "I remember Lord Third used to let his work get in the way of his family. I always figured that our son would have been better than that. Then again..."

The redhead looked up at the blonde. "Then again what?"

He looked back at her. "Then again, neither I, nor the Third, nor any other Hokage has ever had to deal with a threat like Taka before."

"But Minato...?"

The former Hokage paused before he elaborated further. "I cannot condone our son's decisions, nor can I condemn them. As the Fourth Hokage, I understand more than most that the choice between what is best for you or your village is a decision that we must be burdened with every day. Sometimes...Sometimes doing what is right to protect those you love means having to sacrifice spending the time you wish to be around them."

Kushina looked appalled. "Are you saying that Naruto's right to be putting catching Taka over his family?"

"Certainly not. I am only saying that I understand him, more than most can. That's why, even as his father, I don't feel its my place to criticize Naruto for what he's been doing."

Kushina looked back at her family in the dining room, Sakura breaking up the hug and leading Hanami into the kitchen to help her with getting dinner ready for the rest of them.

'No, but it **is** his mother's place to say something, y'know!'

* * *

The train sight had been cleared of all traffic and the villagers were ordered to return to their homes. The girl was taken into the Anbu custody and was currently being held in a blank white room in the interrogation wing of Anbu headquarters.

The girl was sitting at a metal table. She was totally silent, staring at the wall. Behind the large sheet of glass, Naruto, Sasuke and Sai were watching her every move—or lack thereof—to try to come up with the most appropriate way to handle this.

"It seems highly unlikely that she will be able to communicate anything in her present condition," Sai noted.

"I really hate to have to push her," Naruto said, "but this girl's the only witness to the robbery. Our only means of identifying these criminals is her testimony."

Sasuke folded his arms. "The most we've been able to get out of her has already been broadcast to the whole village by those pushy reporters."

"Yeah, I was there live when the report came in," Naruto noted. "Motoko said you guys got something out of her about 'superhuman strength', enough to tear a human skull apart with their bare hands. Also something about them all in rainbow colored robes and masks."

"Not quite rainbow Naruto," Sai corrected. "The colors they wore were white, red, green, black, blue, pink and yellow. White, black and pink are not actually in the typical rainbow spectrum, unlike orange and violet which are—"

"He knows that Sai! He was just being generic," Sasuke snapped.

"Gomen."

Naruto looked at the girl on the other side of the window in pity. He really did feel bad for her horrible loss and all the trauma she had gone through. But still, she was the only living witness to the crime, and they needed to know whatever it was that she saw...Especially if these thieves and murderers were in any way connected to Taka.

"Maybe I should speak to her myself?" Naruto suggested with a warm smile. "Maybe seeing the Hokage will get her to relax and open up to us?"

"I'm not sure that's such a great idea."

The blonde turned to his best friend. "What do you mean?"

Sasuke looked to his best friend and former teammates and rival with his usual serious demeanor. "We made a point not to let those reporters know about this under any conditions, but I was able to get a description from her of their leader.

"And who was it? Mizuki?"

"No. it was something else."

"Like what?

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "we need to talk. _Alone."_

The two of them stepped outside of the interrogation room, leaving Sai in there by himself to observe the girl from behind the glass.

"Alright," Naruto said, "what's the big deal?"

"Shh!" Sasuke put his finger to his mouth to get the blonde to keep his voice down. "Not so loud dobe." He made a hand signal to get his friend to lean in and listen to what he was about to say. "Its about who the girl said was behind this."

"Yeah?"

"She said..." He closed his eyes in contemplation before opening them again. "...She said that you and I caused what happened on that train."

 _"WHAT?!"_

"SHH!" Sasuke shushed him again. "What did I just tell you idiot! You want the entire building to hear about this?!"

"Gomen," Naruto said in a quiet voice again. "What do mean _we_ did this?"

"She says that the person leading this group looks like us."

"You mean he looked like one of us."

"No, I mean he looked like _both_ of us."

Naruto face faulted in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense."

"She gave me the leader's description: man in his early-to-late twenties, handsome, physically fit, black hair with blonde tips and bangs hanging over his face, blue eyes with black pupils, and whisker-like markings on both his cheeks.

Now Naruto was starting to get the picture. "...Oh..."

There was silence for about five seconds before the blonde spoke again. "I don't suppose the girl got this man's name, did she?"

"She hasn't said yet, she's in too much shock. I'm impressed that I was able to get _that_ much out of her."

Naruto diverted his eyes, stretching his brain to try to come up with a possible explanation for this bizarre new development.

"Do you suppose this group were working for Taka," he asked.

"Not likely," Sasuke answered. "The shinobi who got his skull ripped in half is someone you've already investigated in Internal Affairs."

"A rogue faction then?"

"I can't be sure. But what I want to ask you about is this leader of there's looking like you and me."

"Has anybody else been told about this?"

"No."

"...Let's keep it that way for now. I think the last thing this village needs is to start suspecting its Hokage and one of its top Anbu are somehow linked to a wanted criminal."

"Who's to say we aren't?"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

Sasuke folded his arms. "Naruto, we know nothing about who these people are, where they come from, no names. All we know is that their leader looks like you and me and their strength is superhuman. Maybe...Maybe there's more to this than it appears."

"You might be right," Naruto agreed, "and that's why this is going to remain off the record for now."

"Are you saying this to protect the village, or _yourself_?"

The Orange Hokage narrowed his eyes. "This stays off the books until we know more about who we're dealing with. Understood?"

Sasuke did not say anything, only nodded his head in acknowledgement and, perhaps, in some sense of disappointment as well.

"What about the girl?" the Uchiha asked.

"For now let's set her up with a nice, cozy place to stay, with a couple of Anbu guards watching over her. We'll try to get more out of her when she's had the chance to calm her nerves and open up more. After that, do some digging to see if she has any family that can come get her."

"And if she doesn't?"

Naruto sighed. "Then it looks like the Konoha Orphanage is going to have to take in another one." He sighed again. "Listen, I have to leave this to you for right now. I've got to catch a train of my own early tomorrow morning."

"Oh right," Sasuke remembered, "you've got to be in Suna for Sandosupai's trail tomorrow. But do you seriously want to go be train after all that's happened?"

"If you know a faster way to get all the way from here to Suna by noon tomorrow, I'd like to hear it!"

"Okay, okay, I meant no offense."

He sighed again. "Yeah, I know."

"But you do realize that Sakura's not going to be happy about that, right?"

"...No, no she's not. But Gaara and I have come too far in bringing down another of Taka's highest-ranking leaders for me to suddenly quit the case now because of a couple of terrorists."

Sasuke didn't nod, or say anything to acknowledge his friend's statement. He only said "Get some sleep Naruto."

* * *

It was late at night, almost midnight in fact, by the time Naruto made it home. Opening and then closing the door as quietly as he could, he walked across the floor as quietly as possible and was about to ascend the stairs.

"Naruto."

The blonde stopped. He walked in the direction he'd heard the voice coming from. Stepping into the living room, he saw someone very familiar sitting in a chair waiting for him.

"Mom? What are you doing up so late?"

Kushina pointed to another chair she had set up right in front of her. "Sit."

"Can't this wait until morning?"

"Now!"

From the restrained tone of his mother's legendary temper, he knew that it was for the best that he do what she says, so he sat down in the chair facing his mother.

"Naruto," Kushina started, "do you realize what you are doing to this family?"

"Yeah, I'm doing my job to keep all of you safe. I'm cracking down on finding Taka to keep you all safe."

"And what is the point of doing that when you aren't even able to _be_ with the family you want to protect?"

Naruto sighed. "Things aren't that simple anymore mom. Last year changed things, for all of us."

"Yes, they have. But I think they've changed you most of all. Sakura's right, the boy I gave my life to save long ago was _never_ supposed to grow into a dead beat dad who put his work over his children."

"I don't."

"Then why so many late nights? Why so many long hours? Why is it that your daughter hardly gets to see you anymore? Why is it that your wife had to _cry_ herself to sleep tonight?"

Naruto's face faulted. "I...I don't—"

"There's nothing to say Naruto. You've changed, you may not see it, but you've changed. And unless you want your next child to grow up without a father, you'd better set things right first thing in the morning!"

"Mom, you know I have the trial tomorrow—"

"To hell with some stupid trial!" Kushina yelled as she stood up from her chair. "Naruto, your family needs you _here!_ "

Naruto stood up himself. "This whole thing is _about_ my family mom. Putting Sandosupai away tomorrow will be the next step in crippling Taka's hold over the world and stopping them for good. We all knew that this wasn't a problem that was going to be solved overnight."

"Yes, but we didn't know that this was going to become such an obsession for you!"

Naruto glared. "Sakura's told me the same thing."

"Because its true Naruto. You need to take a break from all of this and spend more time here, like Sakura tells me you used to do. This isn't healthy for you."

"Oh really?" he asked in annoyance. "You and Sakura both think this?"

"If we didn't, I wouldn't be down here talking to you now, and Sakura wouldn't have passed out into a soggy pillow."

"Maybe both of you are forgetting what this family went through last year then!" he yelled. "How Sakura and I were framed as criminals! How Hanami went missing! How Shina went mad because of the chakra gem! How you and dad and Neji and Pervy Sage got brought back just so Taka could use you like slaves! You expect me to just forget about all that and let it go unpunished?!"

"No! Of course not. But not at the price of who you are."

"I know _exactly_ who I am mom. I am the Seventh Hokage. That means I have a responsibility not just to my family but to my whole village..." The blonde hung his head as he was forced to say what his heart told him he had to. "...And while I hate to admit it, I'm afraid that right now my village needs me a little more."

Kushina stared at her son in disappointment, not even able to muster up enough anger to lash out at him, out of respect for her slumbering granddaughter and daughter-in-law.

Naruto knew he was wrong, he knew he needed to change things...but there were too many wheels in motion now for him to stop even if he wanted to. He was the Hokage, and tomorrow, his place was at that trial in Suna, working to put a terrorist behind bars where he belonged.

"Just...Just go to bed mom. Please..." He was about to leave her there in the living room as he started walking towards the stairs.

"Hanami has a boyfriend now."

He stopped. "What?"

"Yeah, his name's Hideo. He's a good kid: smart, adventurous, hard-working, compassionate...Actually, he reminds me a lot of you...the _old_ you."

Naruto was at a loss for words. "I...I didn't..."

"Of course you didn't." She turned away from her son. "He comes by the house a lot nowadays. It's too bad you've never met him, I think you'd like him." She then turned her head halfway back in his direction, glaring at him out of the corner of her eye. "This is what you miss when you put your job ahead of the ones you love, my son."

Naruto just stood there for three seconds, taking in the weight of his mother's words. After that, he did the only thing he could think to do...He left the living room and started walking back up the stairs without another word.

Kushiha sat back down in her chair again, her head in her hand and a single tear flowing down her face...

* * *

In a far away jungle in the Land of Lightning, a troupe of very young shinobi were trekking their way through the trees and mud and foliage. The steps of their sandals left deep imprints in the mud wherever they took a step.

There were five in the group all together. The first was a boy from the Stone Village, dressed in the typical red shirt and pants and brown flak jacket of his village. He had black hair and eyes and fair skin.

The second was a girl with long but somewhat unkempt and dirty auburn hair, fair skin, pale blue-green eyes surrounded by think black rings. She was garbed in a light sandy brown T-shirt with a long sleeved red shirt underneath, black pants, black sandals, and strapped to her hip was a small gourd filled with sand.

The third was another boy, a pale skinned boy with tousled white-blue hair, thin eyebrows, and golden eyes. He was dressed in a loose-fitting two-toned light and dark blue kimono jacket with billowing sleeves, tied by a thick khaki-grey Ono-stylized belt, and a pair of navy pants. He also wore black, long, fingerless gloves and black, calf-length shinobi sandals.

The fourth was another girl, who had a fair complexion, onyx eyes and onyx hair she wore in a straight shoulder-length style. Highlighting her eyes were a pair of red-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in a black vest adorned with the Uchiha clan symbol, over a white button-up shirt with red trim, white shorts and black sandals.

The fifth and final member of the company was the leader. He was another boy of thirteen years old, the same age as most of his teammates, give or take a few years. His hair was bright blonde and his eyes were emerald green. He was dressed in an orange jacket, black pants, black armbands, and black sandals. His jacket was adored with the symbol of the Hidden Whirlpool Village, which itself was encased within the plain white circle of the Haruno clan.

All five of these young ninja wore the respective headband of their native villages. The boy in the red shirt and brown vest wore the symbol of Iwagakure, the girl with the dirty auburn hair, the symbol of Sunagakure, and the remaining three the symbol of Konohagakure.

Walking through the treacherous land of nature, the Iwa boy could not help but come up with a lame joke as he pulled a pair of dice out of his pocket. "Welcome to the jungle. We've got fun and games!"

"The Uchiha girl turned her head back in his direction and let out a groan of irritation. "Ugh! Enough with the stupid puns Jōkā!"

"Oh cut me a break Sarada! I was just trying to lighten the mood."

"That's all you ever do! And all your jokes are terrible! You're like Randamu without the crazy part!"

"Must we be forced to hear this debate once again, especially on a mission?" the Suna girl complained.

"I am inclined to agree with Sunako," the pale-skinned boy said. "Jōkā's constant humorless puns and Sarada's constant complaining about them are becoming quite annoying."

"OH SHUT UP MITSUKI!" both of them yelled.

"Guys! Quiet! We're here!"

The blonde leader stopped in front of a cave. A man-made cave cut into the side of a small mountain in the middle of the jungle. The archway was very small and narrow, so there would be no way for all of them to enter except one at a time, single file.

"We're certain that it's in there?" Jōkā asked.

"That is what all of our intel has suggested," Sunako answered.

"Well, either it is in there, or this will prove to be yet another false lead to add to our squad's less-than-stellar reputation."

"We won't know anything for sure unless we go in there Mitsuki," said the blonde. "If the fifth chakra gem is here, then we need to get it before Taka does. That is the mission for which our squad was assembled."

"Hai captain."

"Mitsuki," the blonde complained as he turned back to look at his teammate. "How many times do I have to say it? You don't have to be so formal around me. We're friends, just call me Shinachiku."

"Hai Captain Shinachiku."

The boy sweat dropped as he slapped his forehead in irritation. After he did so, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You sure we're ready for this?" Sarada questioned of her boyfriend. "The last time we found a chakra gem it wasn't exactly a cake walk."

"I can't be a hundred percent sure of anything," Shinachiku said. "But either way, we're going in there. After all..." The boy smiled, "...risk is part of what adventures are all about!"

* * *

There you go, that concludes the second chapter!

Alright, lets get this out of the way right now. I'm sure a lot of you are probably not too happy with me over how I chose to depict Naruto in this chapter. In fact, for a lot of you, this probably soundly very similar to the way adult Naruto is portrayed in actual canon. I want to take this opportunity to tell all of you up front that I do have a reason for this, one that will become clear as the story develops in future chapters.

I can't tell you what's coming for the sake of spoilers, but one thing I **can** say is that I wanted to make it clear that after the events of "Shinachiku's First Adventure," Naruto is not exactly the same person we are used to. All the experiences he had facing Taka a year before have really shaped his perspective, his priorities, and his behavior, and not all of it in a good way. He is not a bad person, he's just a lot, err...dirtier, more compromised than he was before. I fell that this is interesting character evolution for him, and while I in no way feel he is right to have his priorities so focused of stopping Taka over neglecting his family, you can still understand some of it after all he went through in the last story. And I think he's knows he's doing wrong, but like a lot of adult men, particularly men in a position of power, he can't admit it...not yet anyway.

Also, as morbid as it may be to say this, I have written so many stories where Naruto and Sakura were totally happy in their marriage, that I felt that it was about time to throw some real problems into the bed too because, lets face it, no relationship is perfect. All marriages have disagreements and problems and how two people in love overcome them can only make their relationship even stronger. So yes, while it was hard for me to break Sakura's heart so much, it does have a purpose for where things will be going, so please be patient my fellow NaruSaku fans.

A throw away reveal I made to highlight how much Naruto has been missing is Kushina mentioning that Hanami has a boyfriend now (her own age, I assure you). This character is still a work in progress and may not even play that big of a role, but I named him Hideo, which in Japanese means "excellent male child."

The song I used in this chapter is "Superman (It's Not Easy)" by Five for Fighting. I felt that it really highlighted Naruto's struggle with the standards he is expected to meet both as a leader and as a father, and the fact that, for everything that is special about him, he is still just a man. I did have to change some of the lyrics in the song though, so that is did not so specifically sound like I was talking about Superman but about Naruto...even though you can probably find some parallels between the two characters when you examine them.

The scene where Naruto appears on the news show is directly taken from the final chapter (or "episode") of my tie-in fanfic :"Konoha Tonight," making it clear that the train robbery scene from the previous chapter happens concurrently with the last chapter of "Konoha Tonight." If I may indulge in a bit of self-promotion here, that story drops a lot of story clues and possible directions where things will be going in "Shinachiku's Next Adventure," kind of like the viral marketing campaign to a big, blockbuster movie. If you're reading this and haven't given "Konoha Tonight" a read, do me a favor ad give it a look, and then feel free to come up with your own theories about where you think this story is going.

I think that's all I've got for this chapter. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope to see you again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	3. Chapter 3--Raiders of Reality

Hey everyone, thesaiyanjedi here with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I want to apologize for the delay in getting this one out, but it is here now and I thank you all for you patience and your support. This chapter is pretty straightforward, but you'll notice a pretty sudden shift near the end that will set up where we will really be going with this story in the future.

So, with that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Raiders of Reality**

Shinachiku stood before the mouth of the cave, in there, if their lead proved to be true, was the chakra gem they'd spent a year searching for. Finally, the Chakra Gem Recovery Squad could have an actual victory to its name instead of having to settle for the mocking and doubting they received from the Union.

Before they could enter however, Mitsuki spotted something on the jungle floor. He picked it up and stared at it in concern.

"What are you looking at?" asked Jōkā.

The pale skinned boy narrowed his eyes. "Poison tipped dart." He ran his finger along the dart and licked his finger, immediately spitting it back out. "It's still fresh."

"You think its Taka?" Sarada questioned.

"More likely its a local tribe," Mitsuki theorized. "One that doesn't take well to outsiders."

Jōkā sweat dropped in nervousness. "The Raikage failed to mention something like that might be out here."

"It doesn't matter," Shinachiku interrupted. "It there really are natives around here, they don't stand in our way of this cave."

"But Shina," Sarada said, "they could be following us."

The blonde turned his head away from the cave and back to his girlfriend. "If they knew we were here, they would have killed us long before we ever got this far."

"He has a point," Sunako acknowledged.

The boy took command again. "Just follow me team, and watch where you step. There no telling what kind of traps may be inside."

On the blonde's orders, the team of the five made their way into the dark cave in single file. Shinachiku naturally stood in the front, with Sarada following behind him, followed by Sunako, then by Mitsuki, and with Jōkā pulling up the rear.

"Remind me again why its just the four of us and we didn't bring the rest of the team?" Jōkā asked.

Shinachiku turned his head so his teammate could better hear him. "I already explained it back at the briefing. Four people was the maximum number of Chūnin that could come on this mission without attracting too much attention. Far better to have a team of five than an entire squad of fifteen."

"Fine. Then can somebody please remind me how _I_ got stuck in the fifth spot?"

"The team drew straws and you drew the short one," Sunako reminded him in a humorless tone.

Jōkā's face faulted. "Oh yeah..."

"Everybody focus!" Shinachiku ordered. "See what you can spot up ahead."

"I can't see anything but all of these stupid spider webs in front of my face!"

"I was talking to Sarada."

Jōkā scratched the back of his head. "That would make a lot more sense."

The couple nodded their heads and then she closed her eyes, then opened them again. "SHARINGAN!"

When the girl's eyes reopened, they were no longer onyx colored, but instead they were bright red with each iris surrounded by a think back ring. Within each of them was a second, fainter ring with a dark black pupil located in the center. A single black tomoe was located at the peak of the inner ring of each eye.

Upon activating the signature dōjutsu of her father's clan, Sarada scanned the cave ahead of them and reported back with what she could see.

"There's some kind of big, open room up ahead. Some sort of cave art all along the walls. There are stone steps leading up to an alter. And at the base of that alter...I see it!"

Shinachiku got excited. "The chakra gem?!"

"I think so. Its small, beautiful, and its purple. I can feel a powerful energy coming from it."

"Sounds like a chakra gem to me," Mitsuki said.

"Okay team," Shina commanded, "everybody stay alert. They would not have hidden such a powerful relic here and just left it unguarded."

As they continued walking down the tunnel, they did so in silence for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, they came to a literal light at the end of the tunnel...Okay, not the end of the tunnel, more like a quarter to half way down the tunnel. The light was shining in through a large, gaping hole in the ceiling.

"Stop," the blonde ordered flatly. He then tucked himself tightly against the far wall facing his teammates. "Stay out of the light."

Taking the hint, the others did what they were told, aligning themselves with the wall of the cave and staying just out of the small circle of light.

Carefully, Shinachiku moved his way around the light to the other side of it. He then, very slowly, raised his hand up into the light...

 _WHISP!_

A wooden gate with sharp, spear-tipped ends suddenly shot out of the side of the cave, slamming against the other wall. If any one of the they party have been caught in that light, they would most assuredly been speared right in the head and been killed...much like the poor soul whose rotting corpse was speared on the gate right now.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Jōkā screamed like a terrified, sissy girl. One thing that needs to be understood about this boy is that he is something of a unflattering paradox. He was assigned to the Chakra Gem Recovery Squad for his exceptional skill in earth-based jutsu, enough to impress the Tsuchikage herself. Despite that, he was also both a total joker who insisted on making like of any situation he could, as well as an occasional complainer and coward. It was no wonder why Sarada and a few others of the teams would get annoyed with him from time to time. Still, he could definitely find his courage and prove himself very useful when the times called for it.

"Will you shut up!" Sarada demanded. "He's already dead!"

The black haired boy calmed down, dusted himself off, and tried to act tough like it was no big deal. "Yeah, well, whatever. I guess whoever designed this booby trap got this guy _dead_ to rights! ...HA! Get it! Its because he's—"

"We get it Jōkā!" Sarada yelled.

Shinachiku merely shook his head in shame at his teammate's terrible joke. "Come on, lets keep moving."

The company kept moving through the cave, further and further down through the darkness. After a while, Mitsuki decided he wanted to voice something that was on his mind.

"So captain—?"

"It's Shinachiku."

"Captain Shinachiku."

"No! It's—Oh forget it! What did you want to say Mitsuki?"

"I was merely curious on whether or not the rumors were true."

"What rumors?"

"That your mother is expecting another child."

The blonde haired boy blushed as they kept walking further. "Hehe...Y-You heard about that too?"

"We all have," Sunako added. "We saw that profile piece Motoko Katsuragi did on you for _Konoha Tonight_. Did you honestly not know of your mother's pregnancy until the reporters asked you about it?"

The boy's male pride took over as he gave the vaguest, most defensive answer he could come up with. "I don't want to talk about it."

Jōkā smirked as he laughed to himself. "I'll take that a big _yes_."

Sarada put her hand on his shoulder as she talked down the others. "Come on you guys, that's enough. Can't you see you're embarrassing him?"

"Oh course we can," Jōkā said. "That's what makes it so funny."

The Uchiha girl rolled her eyes in annoyance before ignoring her other teammates to try and comfort her boyfriend. "Hey, don't listen to them okay?"

"I'm not, I have more important things to focus on right now, and so do the rest of us."

She was actually taken somewhat aback. "Oh, ah...of course." She them whispered into his ear. "But just between you and me, did you really not know?"

"No, alright! I didn't know. I've been away from the village for so long now that I haven't seen my parents a whole lot lately. And its not like I'm going to ask them whether or not they've been..." The boy felt like he was going to throw up at the mere thought of it. "That they...they... I'm sorry I can't say it. Its too disgusting."

Now it was Sarada's turn to roll her eyes at _him_. "Boys..."

"Hey!" Mitsuki called out to get everyone's attention. "There's something up ahead."

The company stopped where they were. They saw before them a small room in the middle of the long cave. The room was lined with old, giant clay bricks along the walls.

"What is this place?" Jōkā asked.

"I'm not sure," Shinachiku said, "but I think we'd better keep moving."

"This darkness makes it difficult to see," Mitsuki pointed out. "If we are not careful, we could step into another booby trap."

"He might be correct," Sunako admitted.

The blonde captain nodded to himself in agreement. "Hang on a sec." Reaching into his weapon's pouch, he felt around for something in particular.

Sarada took a slight step and then heard a loud crunching sound on the floor. "What was that?"

"Probably just a twig or something," Jōkā dismissed.

"No..." Mitsuki took a step of his own and the exact same sound was heard again. "...There's something on the floor."

"Ah!" Sarada screamed out. "Something just went up my leg!"

"Got it!"

Shinachiku found what he was looking for. He pulled out a small match and lit it, filling to room with at least some amount of illumination...

...And what they found were hundreds upon thousands of bugs crawling around all over the floor! Beetles, roaches, millipedes, moths, spiders, you name it, it was most likely there!

"AAAHHHH!" Sarada screamed at the sight of the bugs.

"Its okay," Shinachiku reassured his girlfriend. "Just don't look down. Keep walking."

On the blonde's orders, they did just that. Poor Sarada in particular had to stomach the disgusting sound of all those insects squishing under her feet.

Finally, they got out of the bug room and found themselves entering yet another one. This room was totally empty, they could see that clearly. More blank space, dusty, walled off with bricks.

Shinachiku, Sarada, Mitsuki and Sunako entered the space first, while Jōkā stood back for a moment and smiled.

"Well, that's more like it," he said. "Looks like this job's going to get a heck of a lot easier—"

 _CLICK_

Jōkā looked down at his feet, he'd just stepped on some sort of switch in the middle of the floor. As soon as the switch was activated, it caused a large stone wall to slam down from the ceiling, cutting the Stone Ninja off from the rest of his team. The others tried to rush for the exit on the other side of the room, but a second wall slammed down in front of them just as quickly. They were trapped.

"Way to go Jōkā!" Sarada yelled, knowing he could still hear her on the other side. "Now look what you got us into!"

"Sorry okay!" he yelled from the other side.

"Jōkā listen to me," Shinachiku yelled from the other side. "There's got to be some kind of a release switch somewhere. See if you can find something."

"Okay let me check—"

 _CLICK_

He stepped on yet another switch on the floor, only this one did something far, _far_ worse. It triggered a mechanism that caused the ceiling inside the closed off room to descend down on top of the four adventurers. Even worse, long, pointed spikes came out of both the ceiling and the floor, spikes that would surely impale any poor souls trapped inside if they stepped in the wrong place. The spikes were coming down fast, so fast that Shinachiku had no time to ready his Rasengan or Sarada her Chidori.

"We're trapped!" Sunako cried out as she opened her gourd. "SAND BARRIER!"

She used her sand to create a protective dome on top of them, quickly hardening it into solid stone to protect them. The spikes were being held back, but they were not breaking, nor was the pulley system controlling the wall stopping, it was only straining, putting more and more weight on top of them to finally crush its prisoners.

"Jōkā!" Sarada screamed, "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Assuming the four of us don't die first."

"Shut up Mitsuki!"

"Both of you shut up!" Shinachiku demanded. "Lets just work together and figure a way out of this! Jōkā! Do you see that switch you stepped on?"

"Yeah!" he yelled from outside.

"Step on it again!"

"Got it!"

He stepped on the switch again, but nothing happened. He tried it again, no difference. Again, no difference. Again, and again, and again, he was practically stomping on the switch now, but nothing was changing.

" Jōkā! Turn off the switch!" Mitsuki demanded.

"I'm trying! It's not doing anything!"

"Then you need to stop it yourself somehow!" Shinachiku ordered. "Hurry! I don't know if Sunako can hold up under all this pressure much longer!"

Jōkā nodded. "Okay hang on! Just give me a minute."

"WE DON'T HAVE A MINUTE!" Sarada screamed in fury.

Jōkā thought hard, and then he got an idea. Making some quick hand signs, he started his technique. "EARTH RELEASE: GOLEM TECHNIQUE!"

Out of the boy's mouth came a creature composed of solid rock. This creature had amazing strength, strength enough to pry through that wall.

"Golem! Attack!"

The golem did as its master commanded. Slamming its stone fist into the wall. Harder and harder it punched It wouldn't be long now, the cracks were forming, the wall was about to come down.

" Jōkā! Hurry!"

"Its almost through boss!"

Sunako was seriously starting to buckle under the weight of what was on top of her. "I...I don't know if..."

Sarada had officially had it. " Jōkā! You clod! _We_...Are _Going_...To _**DIE!**_ "

One punch...

Two punch...

Three punch...And the wall was down!

"Now golem! Smash all those spikes!"

The golem plowed its way through the room, smashing every one of those dreaded spikes by itself. By the time they were all destroyed, Sunako had finally lost all of her control and fell to her knees, her stone shield falling apart and turning back into sand that scattered on and around all of them.

"Whew! That was close!"

The others only glared in irritation at their teammate. Jōkā, for once knowing that he went too far and he very nearly got the rest of his team killed, scratched the back of his head nervously and said "Gomen."

As the others stood back up, Sarada threw a solid punch straight to the Stone ninja's face. "That's for almost getting us killed you idiot!"

"I said I was sorry!"

Shinachiku shook his head in irritation. "Whatever, just don't touch anything else unless we tell you too, okay?"

The boy hung his head in shame. "Hai."

"Good. Now order your golem to smash down that other wall so we can keep moving."

"Hai."

The boy ordered the golem to the other side of the room and smashed the wall down with its mighty fists. Once the golem's work was done, Jōkā dispelled his jutsu and the creature fell apart in a pile of rock and dust.

"Well look on the bright side," Jōkā dared to say, "at least things can't get any—"

"If you finish that sentence I swear to the Great Sage I will put my Chidori right between you eyes!"

"...Gomen Sarada."

The trio walked through the other side of the open door continued down the tunnel.

"How long have we been walking by now?" Sarada questioned.

"About thirty minutes, give or take," Shinachiku said in a dismissive attitude.

Mitsuki took notice of the blonde's tone. "Are you alright captain?"

"I'm fine."

"The tone in your voice suggests that—"

"I SAID I'M FINE!"

The pale faced boy and the rest of his teammates stopped in their tracks at their captain's sudden outburst. Jōkā was easily the most intimidated, his body shivering and his arms outstretched in a comical manner. Mitsuki and Sunako stared at him with a paradoxical mix of suspicion and apathy. Sarada, the most concerned of all, walked up to him and spoke quietly so the others couldn't hear.

"What's your problem?"

"...Gomen."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me."

"You don't..." Sarada shifted her eyes nervously before continuing. "...You don't think us getting closer to another chakra gem is making you have, y'know, a relapse do you."

The boy shook his head. "I let myself fall under a trance when you and I found the Power Gem. I won't let that happen to me again."

The girl smiled and hugged him. "That's why you brought me along, isn't it?"

He smirked wickedly. "That...and a few _other_ reasons."

"You're bad."

"You would know."

The Uchiha girl held his neck as she gave him a soft but loving kiss. Closing their eyes, they briefly lost track of time before a certain someone had to totally ruin the mood.

"Oh for Sage's sake! Get a freakin' tunnel chamber you two!"

A large vein appeared on Sarada's forehead. "Hey! If you don't like it, go turn around Jōkā!"

"In his defense," Mitsuki added, "seeing you making out with the captain _is_ rather revolting."

"SHUT UP!"

Shinachiku waved his hand to calm his girlfriend down before addressing the others. "Alright, alright, I'd like to say that it was very rude of you two to make those jokes—"

"That would be awfully hypocritical given that you yelled at all of us a moment earlier."

Shinachiku's eyebrow twitched. "It was just about to say that Mitsuki. Anyway, I want to apologize for snapping at you guys. I don't know what came over me."

Sunako folded her arms. "You're probably just extra focused on finding the chakra gem after about a year of us following nothing but dead end leads."

"...You're probably right. Well, this mission is going to finally change all of that. The CGRS is finally going to find one of the last three chakra gems before Taka can, and this team can finally report some real results to the Union."

"So this is about your own reputation then captain?"

"No Mituski, this is about _our_ reputations. We've been chasing leads for a year and only now do we find the right lead to one of the gems."

"Which is pretty bad since your dad really worked to cover your ass after the last chakra gem you found drove you kinda nuts."

Shinachiku, Sarada, Mitsuki, Sunako, all four of them glared at their loudmouthed teammate in irritation.

"What? It's true, the whole team knows it."

Sarada groaned out loud. "Yes, yes, we all know that Jōkā. No need to rub it in his face."

"Never mind him," Shinachiku said, "lets just get the gem so we can get out of here."

Sunako kept her arms folded. "And what makes you so sure we aren't chasing another cold lead?"

"...Just a feeling."

Jōkā shook his head. "Well if we are going to finish this mission, shouldn't we be doing less talking and more walking?"

Mitsuki smirked. "That has to be the smartest thing you've said all day."

"Hey!"

The team kept walking further and further down the cave, until at long last, they came to a third open room. There was nothing inside of it and the hallway to go further down the cave was waiting on the other side.

There was one point of interest however...the floor. It was made up of a series of stone tiles cut in different shapes and sizes and assembled together in a seemingly random order. Upon each tile was a single kanji from the language that all of the five nations knew best.

...Of course, Jōkā didn't notice that in time before he haphazardly took a step onto one of these tiles, causing the whole tile to collapse and the Stone ninja to almost fall into a pit with no visible bottom!

"AAH!"

Shinachiku caught his teammate's arm just is time, Sarada and Mitsuki holding onto him to keep them both from falling. Sunako used her sand to form a pair of giant hands to hold a solid grip on all of them.

"Shina!"

"Hang on! I've got you! Guys! Pull us up!"

Sunako took a solid step backwards and slowly pulled her entire team backwards until Jōkā was safely back on solid ground.

"T-Thank you boss," Jōkā said with humility, knowing full well how many times he'd messed up already today.

"Don't mention it," the blonde told him. "Just be more careful where you're walking next time, okay?"

"H-Hai."

With that settled, they dared to peak over the edge to see that, indeed, they could not see a bottom to the pit beneath the apparently highly unstable floor.

"How far do you think it goes?" Sarada questioned.

Mitsuki grabbed a stray rock he found on the floor of the cave and held it above the open hole. "There's only one way to find out."

He dropped the rock down into the abyss. Listening closely for ten solid seconds passed before they heard the faintest sound of the rock striking the bottom.

"That's far," Sunako stated.

'And I almost fell all the way down that way myself,' Jōkā thought as he sweat dropped.

"Then we'd better hang back until we can figure this out," Shinachiku ordered.

The five teammates stood and sat on the floor of the cave and carefully stared at all the different tiles and the characters inscribed upon them.

"What the heck is this supposed to mean?" Jōkā asked.

"It appears to be some sort of puzzle," Mitsuki surmised.

"I know that, but how are you supposed to figure out which ones are the right ones?"

"They have to spell out something," Sarada reasoned. "There's got to be a clue around here that can tell us what though."

Sunako turned her head to look around and she noticed something carved into the wall of the cave. "Hey, over here."

The others came over the their teammate who pointed at the wall. It was a message, a warning to any who sought to cross the pathway over the abyss. Mitsuki read the inscription aloud: _"Traveler's beware, the prize you seek is not for those who know not its legacy. Only those who know the name of the mother shall pass."_

"The name of the _mother_?" Jōkā repeated. "Who's the mother?"

"I haven't the slightest idea," Sunako stated dryly.

Shinachiku stared at the inscription, then back at the tiled floor, before a realization came upon him. "Yes you do. We all do."

"What are you talking about?" Jōkā asked.

"Remember back to your early mission briefings, back when we were first assigned to this team. Do you remember the story Sarada's dad told us about where the chakra gems came from?"

The same realization came upon the Uchiha girl, who promptly smacked her head in irritation. "Gah! I'm such an idiot!"

"I see," Mitsuki realized. "Hagoromo and Hamura hid the chakra gems away after they sealed away their creator...their own mother."

Shinachiku finished his teammate's history lesson for him. "Kaguya."

The blonde stood up and took a look down on the floor of the room before them. He sweat dropped, knowing that there was only one way to be sure...

"Wait!" Sarada cried out while grabbing his arm. "If you're wrong you'll fall to your death!"

"Its the only way to know for sure. Besides, if we are wrong and I die, at least the rest of you will still be here to try another way."

Sarada, nervous, let go of her boyfriend's arm and stood back with her equally nervous teammates to watch as their leader took a deep breath and leaped onto the first tile.

"大."

...He was safe! The tile had held in tact!

'I think we might be right about this,' the relieved blonde thought to himself. 'Now, if I can just reach the next character.'

The next character in the correct spelling was far away, so he had to jump in order to make it. "筒."

The floor was still holding together. So he jumped to the next character. "木."

Things were going smoothly, but now there was a problem. The next tile he would have to jump onto was really small. Shinachiku was going to need to be very careful if he was going to make this one.

"カ. Whoa!" He made the leap, but he barely fit. The boy almost fall backward as his heal hit one of the false tiles which cracked under his foot. He was able to recover though and he kept going.

"グ." He made it to the second to last tile. And then, one last leap of faith. "ヤ."

He had finished walking in the name of Kaguya, the other side of the cave was in leaping distance. He did not hesitate, he leaped over to the other side and, after taking a deep breath in relief, called out to his team. "Its okay! Come on over, but make sure you step _exactly_ where I stepped!"

Sarada came first, then Mitsuki, then Sarada, and Jōkā pulled up the rear. After about two minutes all five of them were over to the other side. No more words said between them, they continued down the cave.

The kept walking further and further, until at last, they reached the end of their journey. There at the end was a wide room with an alter in the middle. And upon that alter, a stone table. And upon that table...a single violet gem.

"There it is" Sarada reacted in excitement.

Jōkā looked around the room. "I don't see anything to fear here."

"Yeah," Shinachiku said, "and that's what worries me."

There were nothing strange about the floor, or the ceiling, or anything about the room they were in. It all looked totally blank.

"Wait here," Shinachiku told his team.

"Be careful," Sarada told him.

The boy stepped through the room very slowly, his eyes constantly darting back and forth to look for any danger that might befall him. As he kept moving closer and closer, he simply could not find anything that would put his life in danger.

Closer and closer he stepped, until finally he was right there at the foot of the alter. Daring to walk up to the top, Shinachiku merely stared down at his prize, the prize he and his team have spent a year trying to beat their enemies to. And now, here it was, right there for the taking, simple as that.

The boy could feel his heart racing. The second he took that gem then something was going to happen that was going to kill him, he knew it.

He closed his eyes. 'Kurama? Kurama can you hear me?'

...

...

 **"Mmm...What do you want kit?"**

'I need you to help enhance my senses. Help me to find any booby traps that might be around here if I take the chakra gem.'

 **"Okay, hang of a second."**

The boy could feel a slight change in his chakra, he could feel the slightest tint of an orange chakra cloak surrounding him as his eyes changed to take on a slitted appearance. His fingernails also became slightly longer and his teeth slightly more fanglike.

 **"That should be enough. Now concentrate kit. What do you sense?"**

The boy closed his eyes and focused on the environment around him. He was looking for something; a spike in chakra, a booby trap, an enemy presence, he had no idea.

'...Nothing. I can't sense anything.'

 **"Then take your fucking gem already so I can go back to sleep! Jeez!"**

Annoyed, and feeling like the kid had just wasted his time, The Nine-Tails took his chakra back, returning the boy back to his original form. This left him alone again, with the purple gem right there waiting for him to pick up.

'Kurama's right,' he thought, 'There's nothing here. I'm just being paranoid from all I went through the last time I found one of these things.' He reached out to touch grab the gem. 'I mean, what the worst this thing can possibly do to—?'

...

...

The second he took the gem into his hand, Shinachiku saw something. It was a vision, the most insane, bizarre, psychedelic vision he had ever had. He felt his body getting pulled as the room itself stretched and grew taught. Then his entire form snapped and catapulted out of the room like a rubber band!

He was floating. No, he was flying. No again, he was rocketing! Up into the sky at an inhuman speed, and he had absolutely no control over any of it! He could see the sky above growing closer and closer the further he traveled. He could see the Earth grow wider as it got further and further away from him. He could feel the air getting thin in his lungs as he got higher. He could see the sun grow larger and larger, its heat burning with the intensity of proximity as he got closer and closer to space.

He was going up into the stars, there was nothing that could stop him, not even himself.

'Wha...What...What is this...?'

"Can you not see?"

'Who...Who are you? What is...What is happening to me...?'

"Who are _you?_ "

'I...I am Shinachiku Uzumaki...Son of Naruto Uzumaki...'

"Are you sure of that?"

'...Yes of course.'

"Not his only son of course."

'What are...What are you saying? WHO ARE YOU?!'

"Who are _you_ , Shinachiku Uzumaki, in this vast, endless multiverse?"

The mysterious voice stopped speaking. Shinachiku could only scream as his body rocketed higher and higher. He was beyond the Earth's atmosphere and he was now among the stars, in the depths of space. Even here, in a place where gravity did not exist, he was still moving, to some place he could not know or imagine.

The blackness of space changed color. It was a tidal wave or repeating colors, like an endless living rainbow of energy surrounding him on all sides. It was as though he was being rocketed through the spectrum itself...through time...through space...through reality...

"You think you know how the world works?"

'Y-You again...'

"You think the reality you know is all there is?"

'I..I...'

"My boy, by finding that gem, you have opened a door to a far grander universe than your fragile young mind can ever possibly comprehend."

He was traveling through a dream, a nightmare, it had to be. The world around him was nothing he could recognize. it was like a kaleidoscope, an infinite void of repeating shapes that he kept falling through and seeing over and over.

It was the stuff of madness. Of true insanity. Of...paranoia...

 _Finished with my woman 'cause she couldn't help me with my mind_  
 _People think I'm insane because I am frowning all the time_

 _All day long I think of things but nothing seems to satisfy_  
 _Think I'll lose my mind if I don't find something to pacify_

 _Can you help me, occupy my brain?_

 _Oh yeah_

 _I need someone to show me the things in life that I can't find_  
 _I can't see the things that make true happiness, I must be blind_

 _Make a joke and I will sigh and you will laugh and I will cry_  
 _Happiness I cannot feel and love to me is so unreal_

 _And so as you hear these words telling you now of my state_  
 _I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could but it's too late_

He was coming to a bright light. Several of them. And within each light, he could see things. _People._ People he could not comprehend.

There was a young boy with spiky black hair and a green shirt and shorts, surrounded by his friends. Then there was a another boy with pink hair and an open shirt, demonstrating some kind of fire power among his friends. Then there was another boy, one with an X-shaped scar on his chest and a straw hat atop his head, aboard a ship in the middle of the ocean with a bizarre crew of eight. Then there was a tall young man, a teenager by the look of him, with a serious expression and bright orange hair, dressed in all black robes and carrying a gigantic sword over his shoulder.

...And then he saw the image that made him stop for a moment. He saw a grown man, a man in an orange fighting gi, with a blue shirt underneath. His hair was black and untamed, a wild mess that looked like he got out of bead and never combed himself. The man then screamed at the top of his voice and changed, he was surrounded by a golden aura of power, and his hair was now standing straight up, golden blonde...

"G...Go—? WHOA!"

Before he had the chance to take in the face he saw, a face he knew he had seen before, Shinachiku was rocketed somewhere else. Snapped like a rubber band yet again, he went through dimensions, through things no man before him could ever possibly had seen.

And then, that voice came back again.

"This universe, this world, is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and just...Others corrupt and filled with malice."

The boy kept moving, moving through his living nightmare, as the voice kept speaking.

"Reality and time, two things, two forces, two powers, two _gems_. Both bound together by symbiosis. For one can have an indelible effect on the other, for the path of one can change the course of the other. Tell my child, have you ever made a choice in your life? Have you ever stopped to wonder what your life would be like if you hadn't made that choice?"

Shinachiku kept moving, kept seeing endless possibilities. Endless time. Endless space. Endless worlds.

"For every choice we make, a new world, a new reality is created. Some realities as so similar to the one we call home, that one can spend a lifetime trying to track down even the slightest point of difference. Other realities are so totally different than what we call home, that they completely defy our ability to comprehend them. There are worlds where your character is completely different. Worlds where the path you follow is different. Worlds where you do not _exist_."

'Why...Why are you showing me this?!'

"To make you see...To make you understand the door the gem has opened to you...To give you perspective...Of reality...And the universe...And how small you are in it."

"AAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!"

The boy traveled through endless world upon world. His mind felt like it was made of mush. There was how he was going to die...

...

And then he stopped. He floated, merely floated there, in the void of multicolored space.

"Who are you, in this vast multiverse, Shinachiku Uzumaki?"

'I...I am...'

"You think you are the _only_ son of Naruto Uzumaki? You have no idea how wrong you actually are... Perhaps I can show you?"

And so he snapped like a rubber band yet again, this time the hardest of all. He was sent rocketing through the rainbow again, through endless dimensions and endless space. His head was shaking erratically, his brain unable to take all the insanity that he was seeing. Bright light after bright light he passed through. One after another, until everything became a blur and he lost himself...completely...

...And then he felt a hand on his arm...

...

...

Shinachiku was breathing heavy, his mind felt like it was a blank. He did not even know if he was a part of this world anymore. How could he?

And then he turned his head, back to his teammates, still waiting for him on the other side of the room. They all appeared shocked, unable to believe whatever they had just seen.

It was only then that he felt that hand grasping his arm again. Turning his head in shock, he saw a boy there, one younger than himself. This stranger was out of breath, just as much as he was, and he was also as confused as he was, maybe more so.

The boy was a lot like him...very much like him. He looked much like his father; his hair was spiky and blonde, his eyes were blue, and there were two whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks. Actually, his hair reminded him of a leaf, his ahoge serving as the stem. His face however had a distinct shape, that of a woman he knew, but it perplexed him...It was his Aunt Hinata's face.

The boy was dressed in a black tracksuit that had a red fire symbol on the left breast, a symbol that resembled a bolt on the back, and red stripes along the sides of his pants. Beneath his unzipped jacket, he wore a white T-shirt and a bolt tied to a string around his neck. He also wore a forehead protector on his brow, and standard shinobi sandals.

"Wha...Where am I?"

Shinachiku looked upon the mysterious boy that was now standing before him, who had rapidly removed his hand from his arm in shock. "I'm Shinachiku Uzumaki."

The boy appeared utterly confused and distressed. "I don't know you."

"What is your name?"

"Boruto...Boruto Uzumaki..."

* * *

Holy universal paradox Batman! Seriously though, I hope that trippy universe hopping vision and this surprise cameo at the end have you all hooked for the future of this story.

For those of you wondering what the heck is going on, I will tell you up front that the gem that Shinachiku found in this chapter is the Reality Gem. We will see the full possibilities of this gem, and of another gem I will be using in this story (which I had previously introduced in "Naruto and Sakura's Twelfth Anniversary") as we go forward.

The decision to bring Boruto into Shinachiku's world was something I started thinking about back while I was writing "Shinachiku's First Adventure." At first I was actively doing everything I could to say far, far away from the canon ending of the series. But as it took me longer and longer to finish that story, and more and more time passed, the brutal sting of the ending started to wear off eventually. I mean, lets face it, it was over two and a half years ago. Don't get me wrong, I still hate the ending, but after a while I have had to accept that it is what it is and I can use my fanfiction medium to create a continuity I much prefer. It is a lot like Digimon, over ten years later and I STILL can't believe Sora ended up with Matt instead of Tai (and I know I am far from alone on that), but its out of my control to change things so all I can do is turn to fanfiction and my own personal head canon to make up for it...And no, as awesome as Digimon Adventure Ti is, I do not expect them to correct that mistake in the final film.

Anyway, it got me thinking about my continuity and Kishimoto's as two different universes or timelines, tapping into the multiverse theory. I have seen people write stories about Shinachiku and Boruto meeting each other before, but usually the explanation is that Naruto and Sakura had an affair. That's perfectly fine, but I decided that going in this direction would be more unique and interesting, and maybe give me more material for an actual story.

I cannot tell where exactly I will be going with this, but I will say that there will be more to this fanfic than just trashing on canon for the entirely. There will be tension between everyone, that's for sure, but that won't be all there is.

Okay, let's move on to the references. I think we all know what the big inspiration was for this particular chapter. The raiding of the cave, the specific booby traps, this was pure Indiana Jones. Literally, all three of the obstacles they followed on the way to the gem where each taken from the first three Indiana Jones movies. The gate that came out if you stepped into a light source, that was taken from the opening sequence of _Raiders of the Lost Arc_. The sealed off room with the collapsing wall and the spikes, that was the trap Indy and Short Round fell into in _Temple of Doom_. The floor where you had to step on certain letters to spell the correct name to pass, that was one of the challenges Indy had to face to reach the Holy Grail in _The Last Crusade_. And in case you're wondering, the Japanese characters I chose were the same ones that (according to Narutopedia) spell out Kaguya's name.

The psychedelic vision that Shinachiku's has after he touches the Reality Gem, however, was inspired from a different source. I was inspired by the "Doctor Strange" movie, specifically the vision that the Ancient One gives Stephen when they first meet. You remember, the one where he goes flying through space, through his own eyeball, and even a world filled with arms that grab him everywhere. If you're a Marvel fan, this is a scene that's pretty hard to forget. Open your mind indeed.

As for the new member of Shinachiku's team, Jōkā, his name is literally the Japanese word for "joker." This tells you that this guy is all about making light of everything, much to many of the other's annoyance, particularly Sarada. As such, I used him as much of the comic relief for this chapter, him and Mitsuki.

In speaking of whom, yes, this is meant to be the same Mitsuki that is friends with Boruto in canon, and I felt that, given what we know of his origins and the villains I created in the first chapter, that I could get some obvious use for his character in this story.

The song I included here is "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath. I wanted something that had a hard rock feel, and also went along with the trippy nature of the scene, and this was the best I could come up with, still I think it works.

I thinks that's all I've got for this time. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I look forward to seeing you all back for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	4. Chapter 4--Trials and Complications

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi back with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I know, I fell behind again, but I hope you all enjoy this chapter. There's probably won't be a whole lot of action, per se, but it will definitely help push the plot along and there will be some high moments of tension in here. I hope you all enjoy it.

With that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Trials and Complications**

"We're running out of time Gaara!"

"They'll be here Kankurō."

The puppet master with the violet face paint checked the clock hanging on the wall again. "They'd better, because the judge isn't going to wait on us forever."

The Kazekage and his brother were standing at Sunagakure train station waiting for the next train to come in from Konoha. After the catastrophe that had been reported on last train headed towards the Hidden Leaf Village, there was an understandable amount of trepidation about boarding another ride in or out of the village. But despite that, the Hokage could not order the trains shut down for the time being. Why? Because he needed to be at his scheduled rendezvous by afternoon the next day, and there was only one way to guarantee that he would make it in time.

And so the auburn haired leader of the Hidden Sand Village and his most trusted adviser and aid waited for the next train to come into the station...And then, with a mighty roar and a loud screeching of the brakes, the locomotive came to a halt as she pulled into the station.

"Finally!" Kankurō exclaimed.

The conductor ordered the doors opened as the passengers flied out of the train cars, all carrying their luggage and rushing to make sure they had gathered together with the rest of their families.

"Do you see them?"

"Not yet." Gaara shook his head at his brother's question, his eyes constantly darting back from car to car, looking for their guests.

And then, finally, he saw them. A man with blonde hair and wearing an orange sweatshirt, another man with a goatee and his dark hair tied up in a pineapple shaped ponytail, and a woman with sandy blonde hair tied up in four ponytails dressed in a dark purple kimono.

"Hey Gaara!"

Naruto waved his hand to his old friend to signal where he was. The two brothers immediately worked their way through the crowd to join up with their three guests.

"Long time no see sis."

"Same here Kankurō," Temari smiled. "Sorry if we're late."

"You were cutting it kind of close—"

"Kankurō!"

The middle child of the Sand Siblings corrected himself at his little brother's outburst. "B-But Gaara and I are all glad you made it."

"Well to be fair," Shikamaru butted in, "all that drama that happened with the last train to leave our village was a serious drag."

Naruto and Temari both frowned before the blonde spoke up. "Anyway, we still have time to go over our prosecution one more time before the trial starts, right?"

Kankurō folded his arms and smirked. "Why? Need to refresh that shitty memory of yours?"

The blonde cocked an eyebrow. "Dude, you brother and I have both been working on this case forever. I know these briefs _backwards_."

"So do the rest of us."

"What are you getting at?"

"That we have only thirty minutes until the trail starts and we need to spend that time rushing like hell to get to the courthouse instead of wasting our time talking!" He grabbed a hold of their luggage in equal rush. "Now come on! Let's find us a carriage and get out of here!"

* * *

The courtroom of Sunagakure was packed to the brim with jury, defendants and witnesses alike. All that was missing was the judge and the prosecution team, including Lord Kazekage himself. It had been a long, boring wait in a room that had faulty air conditioning in the infamous Suna heat. Suffice to say, people were starting to get restless.

...That is, all except for one person. That person was the defendant himself, Lord Sandosupai, former Elder of Sunagakure. The man was an older gentlemen with graying hair, tanned skin, and a smug, shit-eating grin. He was dressed in a formal suit and lounging back in his chair, seemingly with little concern for the serious trial that was about to come that would, for better or worse, seal his fate.

Suddenly, the doors to the courtroom burst open to allow the Kazekage, both of his siblings, his brother-in-law, and his friend the Hokage into the room.

"Gomen. Forgive us for running late."

Gaara's apology to his subjects was enough to renew the vigor in the jury's mind. Now that both their leader and the Hokage were here, with their team taking their seats, things could finally get underway.

"All rise. The Honorable Judge Nisigima presiding."

At the bailiff's call, everyone in the courtroom stood up. As they did so, Sandosupai turned to face his prosecutors, his smug expression never leaving his visage. "I figured the Hokage would use his time away from his village to take a vacation, go to a soccer match, things like that."

"Game starts at 1:30," Naruto answered sarcastically. "More than enough time to put you away for life Sandy."

The judge came through the doors, dressed in full black robes, and took his seat at his podium. "Please be seated."

The people in the courtroom all took their seats again as the judge spoke once again. "I am the Honorable Judge Nisigima, and I would like to thank all of you in the jury for agreeing to take part in hearing this case. I realize that many of you have jobs or loved ones that you would much rather be spending your time with, but I want to remind you of the importance that you all have agreed to fulfill you duty as citizens of Sunagakure and as citizens of the Shinobi Union."

The judge paused before speaking again. "Today we hear the case of _The Union v. Sandosupai_. May the prosecution like to make their opening statement?"

There were some rumblings among the prosecution team before Gaara stood up. "Hai Your Honor." He faced the jury. "Ladies and gentlemen, today we are gathered to bring justice. Justice against a source of evil and corruption that has permeated the ranks of our beloved village. As all of you are aware, one year ago a great, terrible conspiracy was discovered to have infiltrated the ranks of Konoha. Not just that, but that exposure also brought to light hidden treachery within all five of the Great Hidden Villages, including Sunagakure. I myself was a victim of this conspiracy, my brother and I temporarily brainwashed into becoming puppets of the secret, terrorist society known as Taka. That secret society sought, and _still_ seeks, to destroy our way of life from the inside, then to remake the world the way they want, under their domination, by using an assortment of ancient, powerful relics called chakra gems."

The Kazekage paused before continuing. "On that day, the forces of Taka launched a terrible attack on Konoha, a battle myself, my brother, my sister, and even my own daughter were all forced to take part in. On that day one of the leaders of Taka, one Uragi Rimonō, used one of these chakra gems to turn himself into a monster that nearly destroyed our ally's village...until the son of my dear friend, Naruto Uzumaki, was able to defeat him."

Naruto smiled in pride at Gaara's praise of his own son. It was too bad the boy could not be here to join them in this moment...

"Uragi is now serving the punishment he deserves, a life's sentence in Konoha's Strict Correctional Facility with no possibility of parole. But as I have said, Uragi was only _one_ of Taka's leaders, namely their leader within Konoha. Such a massive operation as this would undoubtedly require multiple deep cover cells planted within the other four villages as well, and each would require a leader in a position of high political power to oversee it. A series of Internal Affairs investigations have already weeded out numerous Taka double agents among Suna's ranks, but _someone_ had to be responsible for leading these traitors until Taka was brought out of the shadows."

Gaara looked directly at the defendant as he wrapped up his statement. "Jury, you will hear sworn testimony from eye witnesses and confessed accomplices that will tell you that _this_ man..." He pointed at his old ally, "...Lord Sandosupai, _former_ Elder of this village, is that leader of Taka in Sunagakure. Thank you, Your Honor, that is all."

Gaara took his seat, with Shikamaru whispering something into his ear.

"Does the defense have any statement that they would like to make?" the judge asked.

Sandosupai's lawyer stood up himself. "Hai Your Honor." He turned to the jury. "Ladies and gentlemen, you will indeed hear a great deal of testimony today, but I think you will all see that the prosecution's entire case is built upon a conspiracy to make my client the fall guy to cover up the _grossly_ negligent standards set by Lord Kazekage himself and the rest of the Five Kages in keeping their ranks clean of influence from Taka and other corrupt organizations like them. We cannot forget that it was after the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War that Taka began planting agents within our shinobi governments, and that was eighteen years ago. Eighteen years time and _only_ after it was too late to prevent that battle that had occurred in Konoha did any of us even become away of Taka's existence. This is clearly an embarrassment that the leaders of the new Shinobi Union wish to cover up by finding a patsy to take the fall for their own mistakes in handling the corruption in their own ranks, and to be that fall guy, they have unfairly and ruthlessly singled out my client here. To allow this man to be convicted for such lies would be nothing less than a mockery of justice. I urge the jury not to let the false testimony you are about to hear sway you. Open your minds, listen to the facts, and you will find the truth. Thank you Your Honor, that concludes my statement."

The lawyer took his seat next to his client, Sandosupai clearly pleased with his defense. On the side opposite them, however, Naruto and the others were very clearly unimpressed.

"Thank you gentlemen," the judge said. "Is the prosecution ready to call their first witness?"

Gaara stood up. "Hai Your Honor, I do believe we are..."

...

* * *

...

The trial was going longer than expected, but so far the evidence was very clearly siding in the prosecution's favor. Witnesses and accomplices were taking the stand all day and it was clear that Naruto and Gaara's team were having much more success getting them to slip up and reveal incriminating evidence than the defense was in spinning it in Sandosupai's favor.

Still, all that the jury had listened to so far was mere child's play. Now, at last, it was time for their star witness to make his case.

"Does the prosecution have any further witnesses?" the judge questioned.

Gaara, Kankurō, Temari and Shikamaru had all taken turns questioning the other witnesses. Now it was Naruto's turn as he stood up. "Hai Your Honor. I call Mr. Ogata to the stand."

From out of the jury box, a middle aged, slightly obese man stood up and walked towards the witness podium. The bailiff asked him to take the oaf, which he did. Naruto then proceeded with his questions.

"Mr. Ogata, are you acquainted with the defendant, Lord Sandosupai."

"Hai."

"And how would you describe your relationship with this man?"

"I was introduced to him through a third party and he asked for my help on a few B-rank missions in the past."

"I see...Mr. Ogata, is it not true that you were expelled from your shinobi ranks after Internal Affairs uncovered clear and undeniable evidence that you were a member of Taka?"

"Objection!" Sandosupai's lawyer protested.

"Overruled," the judge said. "Please answer the question sir."

Ogata sighed. '...H-Hai."

Naruto continued. "And is it not also true that after you were stripped of your rank, you then found yourself extra employment not only with Taka, but also working as added muscle for Hanzai Harada and his infamous Harada crime family?"

"Objection Your Honor!" the lawyer protested again. "The witness's alleged employment under Hanzai Harada is completely irrelevant to my client—"

"Overruled!" the judge shouted. "Please refrain from any further outbursts sir, or I will hold you in contempt of this court. Mr. Ogata, please answer the question."

Ogata threw up his hands in defeat. "Fine. I've got nothing to hide anyway. Yeah, I do some work for Harada on the side. Guy needs to pay the bills y'know."

The crowd chuckled at Ogata's joke, much to Sandosupai's pleasure and the Gaara and his family's annoyance.

Naruto shook his head at this man's completely out of place sense of arrogance. Needing to get to the point, he decided to just ask his next set of questions.

"Mr. Ogata," Naruto began, "Eight week ago you and two others appeared at the fire daimyō's inauguration ceremony armed with kunai and baseball bats where you disrupted the events by threatening _and_ assaulting members of the crowd and causing such property damage as destroying official posters and banners of the Land of Fire's new daimyō Ikkyū Madoka. You and your accomplices stopped and apprehended by—"

"By your stuck up, goody good of a son and his joke of a team! Yeah! I get it Uzumaki! You don't have to rub it in how awesome your own kid is every chance you get!"

"Order!" the judge banged his gavel. "Mr. Ogata! Don't make me hold you in contempt as well!"

"G-Gomen Your Honor."

"Lord Hokage," the judge continued, "please finish your question."

"Hai. Mr. Ogata, after my son and his team apprehended you and your two accomplices, you were positively identified and your ties both to Taka and the Harada crime family were effectively confirmed...In the last couple of weeks however, a man named Noburo, _former_ chief consultant for the Suna-Konoha Alliance and trustee to the Suna Elder's Council, _both_ of which are organizations with ties to defendant Lord Sandosupai by the way, fell under investigation for misuse of power, aiding and abetting with the defendant, conspiracy against his own village of Sunagakure on behalf of Taka, and even for accepting bribes."

Naruto turned to the jury. "Now, you might be asking yourself: 'What do the charges labeled against Mr. Noburo have to do with either the witness or the defendant?'" He turned back to Ogata. "Because just a few weeks ago, Noburo agreed to turn in evidence _against_ his good friend Sandosupai. And Noburo insisted that _you_ ," He pointed at the witness, "Mr. Ogata, acted as a go-between for him and Sandosupai."

He got up close to the witness and got straight to the point. "Mr. Ogata, can you confirm that you were indeed the middleman between Noburo and the defendant, _and_ when you and your friends attacked the daimyō's inauguration, that you did so under the defendant's direct orders?"

Ogata smiled after a very light chuckle. "You win Lord Hokage. The Taka leader you're after, he's right here in this room."

Gaara, Kankurō, Shikamaru and Temari were all smiling in relief, and in Kankurō's case he was pumping his fist in a mildly enthusiastic victory.

Naruto himself, he was just smirking at Sandosupai, knowing full well that this scumbag was finally going to get what was coming to him...

"That's right. It was me! I'm the guy you want!"

Naurto snapped his head back in Ogata's direction in shock and the crowd burst into chuckling. The rest of Naruto's team were incredulous, and even a bit angry. Sandospai himself just kept on smiling.

Angrily, Naruto grabbed a document off of the table his team was sitting at and held it up. "I have a sworn statement, from _you_ ," He pointed his finger at Ogata with extra force, "that _this_ man," He then turned around and pointed at the defendant. "Lord Sandosupai..." He put the document down and stared the old man down as he finished his statement, "...is the leader of Taka's deep cover cell in Sunagakure."

"Sandosupai?" Ogata asked mockingly. "He's just a fall guy. I'm the brains of the organization."

The jury broke out into laughter again, and this time it stung Naruto even worse. Shikamaru actually had his head in his hand in annoyance as Temari scowled at Ogata. Kankurō folded his arms in anger, while Gaara only sat there silently, staring.

"Order!" The judge banged his gavel again to calm the jury down.

Naruto, wiping his brow of sweat, approached the bench to speak directly to the judge. "Permission to treat the witness as hostile?"

"Hostile? I'll show you hostile!"

The jury all gasped in horror. Ogata had just pulled a long, really sharp knive out of his jacket! Naruto, however, was not going to be deterred, as he got over the shock in only a second and then grabbed hold of Ogata's wrist as he laid a powerful left hook straight into the witness's face!

The bailiff immediately came over to subdue Ogata and slap the handcuffs on him, and Naruto took the weapon he had taken from his hands and walked over to the defendant with it. "Basic steel, 8 1/2 inches, made in Kiri." Naruto shook his head. "My friend Tenten sells the best weapons out there. Word of advice: the next time you're crazy enough to try and kill a kage, Lord Sandosupai, I recommend you buy from _Konoha_."

Slamming the weapon down on the table, directly in front of the old man, Naruto then turned his head around when he heard the judge say to the bailiff "Get him out of here."

"But Your Honor, I wasn't done yet."

The carefree, almost oblivious and playful tone Naruto had used when he'd said that actually caused the jury to break into laughter and some of them even burst into applause. Shikamaru just shook his head in amusement; leave it to Naruto to know how to work a crowd.

The judge called the room to order again as the bailiff escorted Ogata out of the courtroom. In light of the drama that had just occurred, the judge decided to call for a short recess before continuing with the final phases of the trial.

'That's okay,' Naruto thought to himself triumphantly, 'I think we've got this thing in the bag already.'

* * *

During the recess, the prosecution team got to work talking about what had just occurred in there and how much good it could do them for the case...or not.

"We'll never be able to link the weapon to Sandosupai, so we won't be able to charge him," Shikamaru confessed.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Kankurō practically shouted.

"I wish I was. But we all know how hard it is to track a blade to its owner. Besides, Ogata never did confess that he was Sandosuai's middleman, so that still leaves a window of reasonable doubt."

"So you're saying that all of that does nothing for us?" Temari asked stunned.

"Maybe, maybe not, I can't say for certain if it will hold up in court or not. That's just how sucky the system works sometimes. But the fact that they're trying to kill us means that we're getting to them."

"I'm glad you're so pleased Shikamaru." Naruto said sarcastically. "Oh, I'm fine, by the way."

"Come on Naruto, you're a kage. If nobody wants to kill you, then you're not doing your job right."

The blonde's eyebrow twitched, "Thanks Kankurō."

"Even so," Gaara interjected, "We've made our case and we've called all of our witnesses. At this point its in the jury's hands."

Naruto nodded his head. "You're right. Come on, lets go get some coffee before we go back in."

* * *

"All rise!" the bailiff called. "The jury will now read their verdict."

Everyone in the court stood up and waited patiently as the foreman read the official verdict that the jury had decided upon.

"For the crimes including, but not limited to treason, conspiracy, and insurrection against the Village Hidden in the Sand, we the jury find the defendant, Lord Sandosupai..."

Naruto smiled. They'd done it. Their case was solid. The defense was weak. The moment had come. That scum Sandosupai was going to prison and Taka was one step closer to being vanquished once and for all!

"...Not guilty of all charges."

 _'WHAT?!'_

Neither Naruto nor any or the others could believe what they'd just heard! How could they have—?! It didn't make any sense! How could they have possibly—?!

Naruto glanced over at Sandosupai, that stupid smug expression that had been on his face throughout his entire trial was wider than ever now that he was officially a free man...

'Wait! All day...That son of a bitch!'

"Thank you foreman. Very well then, this court finds the defendant cleared of all charges and will be released from prison immediately. This court is adjourned."

The judge slammed his gavel down one final time, and with that, it was all over. Justice had failed this day, and there was only one possible explanation...

"Don't feel too bad Uzumaki," Sandosupai said as he passed by the blonde on his way out the courtroom. "Maybe now you'll find the time to take a little vacation from the wife and kids while you're here. It's still not 1:30, maybe you can still make that soccer match."

Naruto could only glare with clenched fists as the old man walked out of the room with his legal team, a free man, laughing mockingly on his way out...

Gaara had to place a hand on his friend's shoulder as the five of them were left there, alone in the empty courtroom...

* * *

"AAAAGGGHHH!"

Naruto was pissed! _Really_ pissed! So pissed that he actually threw a chair around his friend Gaara's office, like a child having a temper tantrum.

"Naruto!" Shikamaru shouted. "Calm down man!"

"Calm down? Calm down?! Months of hard work we all put into this case! We went over everything, _everything_ with a fine toothed comb, went over the evidence until we were iron clad. The old man's defense was hardly treading water! And instead they just let him go free?!"

"Naruto," Temari tried to speak up, "I'm mad too, we all are. But throwing a fit isn't going to change anything. All we can do now is look back on the case and figure out where we went wrong—"

"Oh I can tell you exactly where we went wrong!" the blonde declared. "That bastard and his Taka buddies paid off the jury, that's what happened!"

"Dude," Kankurō said, "you don't know that."

"It's the only explanation that makes any sense."

"We cannot go before Judge Nisigima without proof of such a claim," Gaara stated dryly.

"And how do we know the judge wasn't bought tool?"

"We don't," Shikamaru said as he stood up and got in his friend's face. "But I do know one thing for sure, you need to calm the hell down so you can think this thing through like grown adult. Don't you dare make the mistake of thinking you're the only one here who's pissed off about this. Do you understand me?"

That talking down to from his own adviser was what Naruto finally needed to calm down and take a breath. "G-Gomen you guys. I'm sorry, I was just..."

"It's alright Naruto," Gaara told him. "There seems to be little more we can do about this tonight, and it's been a long day. I suggest the three of you find a hotel to sleep for the night before you catch your train back to Konoha tomorrow morning."

"That sounds like a plan to me," Temari agreed.

"Ditto," Shikamaru lazily agreed with his wife.

Naruto folded his arms. "Fine."

"By the way Naruto," Kankurō said, "how are things going with you and Sakura lately? I heard you two have another baby coming."

Naruto wasn't terribly excited to be talking about this, certainly after the big mess that went down at this house the night before, but he needed to say something. So, of course, he lied. "It's great. Sakura and I are doing fine. The baby's due in about six months."

"And Sakura is okay with you taking the train between here and Konoha after that massacre that happened yesterday?"

"Of course she not happy about it, but what choice did we have? None of us could have made it here overnight if we all came by foot."

"In speaking of that massacre," Gaara interrupted, "does Anbu have any leads on who those masked men might be? Are they more Taka agents?"

Naruto remembered his discussion with Sasuke yesterday. It was under his own orders that no one know what little they had learned from the only living eye witness. So, once again, he lied to them. "No, the trail went cold. We're still trying to find any leads we can."

Gaara narrowed his eyes. He did not need to be able to read minds to guess that his friend was hiding something from him, but he chose to let it be...for now."

"Very well," he said. "I'll have arrangements made for you at a hotel so you three can rest for tonight. Get some sleep all of you, your train departs bright and early tomorrow."

"Arigato little brother," Temari bowed to her sibling.

"Dōitashimashite big sister," he said back.

As the three of them filed out of the Kazekage's office, Naruto found himself lost in thought. 'Jeez! I sure hope that Shinachiku's having much better luck than I am these days. I hope he hasn't run into any unexpected surprises...'

* * *

"...W-Wha? ... _What_ did you say your name was?"

"Boruto. My friends call me Bolt for short."

Shinachiku was dumbstruck. He had never seen this kid before in his life, and now completely out of nowhere the kid shows up with the same last name as himself, looking so much like him that they could be mistaken for brothers. Where the heck did he come from? What was that insane vision he saw when he touched the chakra gem? Who was that voice he heard? _What the hell was going on here?!_

"Listen, I'm—AAH!"

Shinachiku didn't get the chance to finish, because the mysterious boy all of a sudden went into a rage and grabbed him by the shirt, throwing him down to the ground an then pulled out a kunai that he had pressed up against his throat.

"Where am I?!"

"I-I don't know how you—"

 _"WHERE AM I?!"_

 _"Let him go!"_

The mysterious blonde turned his head in the direction of the other voice. Looking to the others, he was shocked to see a familiar looking girl with black hair and red trimmed glasses, even though her manner of dress was much different and she herself appeared older than the teammate he knew.

"Sarada...? AAH!"

That was the distraction that Shinachiku needed. He wrestled himself out of the boy's grip and laid a right hook into his jaw. When the boy fell to the ground, Shina pinned him down, leaving him unable to move.

"Sunako! Restrain him!"

The Kazekage's daughter ran over to her captain, uncorking her gourd and allowing her sand to flow out. She hardened in around the boy's arms and legs, leaving him unable to move his limbs for any further attack or any attempt to escape.

Sarada, Mitsuki and Jōka came over their teammate's side to observe their mysterious captive for themselves. Naturally, they were all rather curious and quite confused.

"What should we do with him captain?"

Shinachiku was about to speak, but Jōka beat him to the punch. "I say we just leave him here. We don't owe him anything."

"Maybe we do?"

The others all turned to their captain in confusion. He elaborated, "I can't explain it...but I think there's more to this gem than we know...and somehow this kid is our key to figuring it all out."

"What are your orders then?" Sunako asked.

Shina looked down at the younger blonde, struggling with all his strength to beak free of his rock solid bonds but not able to when he cold not move his hands to cast any jutsu.

"Cover his eyes," the older blonde ordered. "We're taking him with us."

"What?" Jōka questioned. "You want us to take this kid back to base camp? But what if he's a spy?"

"Jōka does have a valid point captain," Mitsuki stated. "The circumstances of this child's arrival are unexplained and he did just attack you. It could be possible that his appearing in a cave where a chakra gem in hidden means that he is a Taka spy sent here to—"

"Mitsuki?"

The pale skinned boy with the white-blue hair, along with all of his teammates, looked down at their captive. He had a very confused and somewhat frustrated expressing on him, like he was all of a sudden seeing confused ciphers of people he knew from wherever it was that he came from.

Mitsuki raised his eyebrows in confusion himself. "Pardon me sir, but I do not believe you and I are acquainted."

"What are you talking about?" The boy that calls himself Boruto protested. "We've known each other since the Academy. We're on the same team together for Sage's sake!"

The boy traded looks with his captain before turning back to their captive. "I believe you have me confused with someone else. What village are you from?"

"From the Leaf Village of course! Just like you!"

"You're mistaken sir, I don't have a village I call home. My allegiance is only to the Shinobi Union as a whole, and to the Chakra Gem Recover Squad, and to Captain Shinachiku here."

Boruto was beyond lost. "What are you...?" He turned to the raven-haired girl that had distracted him earlier. "Sarada, what's going on? Where are we? Why do you and Mitsuki look taller all of a sudden?"

The Uchiha girl gasped in shock. "Y-You know my name?"

"What?! Of course I know your name! You, me, Mitsuki, we're all on the same team! You and I have known each other for years!"

Sarada actually got offended all of a sudden. "I've never met you before in my life! You know _nothing_ about me!"

"Yes I do!"

She folded her arms. "Prove it!"

The boy desperately tried to list off anything and everything he could come up with to prove himself. "You're name is Sarada. You love reading history and mystery books. You hate tomatoes and love foods that taste like black tea. You've lived your whole life in the Leaf Village and studied at the Academy—"

"Ah ha!" Sarada interrupted. "See I _knew_ you were a fake! I hardly ever got to study at the Academy. I spent most of my training and studies wandering the world with my parents and their team."

The boy called Boruto looked like he'd just been told that two plus two equaled seven. What the hell kind of game was she playing with him? "What are you talking about? You told me you never even _met_ your dad until last year!"

"Hey!" Shinachiku stepped in angrily. "Don't you dare call my girlfriend a liar!"

"Are you crazy! Sarada's not your girlfriend!"

"Yes!" the girl took the older blonde's hand frustratingly. "I am!"

The girl then planted a passionate kiss right there in front of everyone. The blonde was definitely surprised by it at first, but he quickly relaxed into it and returned the kiss with equal passion.

The younger blonde, however, could only look up at the scene with shock and horror! There she was, his friend, his teammate, his... She was kissing another guy! Some older blonde that he'd never met before!

The boy was mad. No, scratch that, he was _fuming!_ Ever single urge in his body wanted to break free of his bonds and smash this guy's skull in!

"Hey! Get off of her! You'd better hope I don't get out of her or I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Shinachiku broke the kiss so he cold glare at his captive. "You can try if you want to kid, but if you do you'd risk being charged with assault of a captain of the Shinobi Union _and_ the son of the Seventh Hokage himself."

That one sentence, that was all it took to instantly wipe away the boy's intense, passionate feelings of rage and replace it all with complete and total bewilderment. 'Seventh...? What to hell...? There's no way he...? But I'm...? He's...? This doesn't make any sense!'

"You're _insane_ pal! You're **not** the Hokage's son!"

"And why do you say that?"

"BECAUSE **I'M** THE HOKAGE'S SON!"

Time came to a complete standstill. Nobody could breathe after what they'd just heard. Mitsuki and Sarada could only look on in suspicion (and pity) at their captive. Jōka reacted in over-exaggerated panic. Sarada gasped while covering her mouth in shock. But Shinachiku, he just stared, long and _very_ hard at this boy.

His eye's narrowed, his fists clenched, as he asked, practically gritted out his next question. "Who is you father?"

The boy glared right back, with just as much anger, if not more. "Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage...and the worst father in the history of fathers."

...

Shinachiku just stood there for about three solid seconds, his brain trying to process what he'd just heard. It was impossible to know what was going though the older blonde's mind in this bizarre and potentially life shattering moment...At least, until he made his feelings perfectly clear when he punched the boy right in the face, then gave him a perfectly timed blow to the back of the neck to knock him out cold!

"Captain?"

Shinachiku, his mind still reeling, turned back towards his team at the sound of Mitsuki's voice. He could read the confusion, concern and distress over all of their faces, especially Sarada's. None of them said a word, but he knew that they wanted an explanation...and so did he.

"I..." he began, "I don't want this kid out of our sight until we get to the bottom of this. We're taking him with us back to camp, and I want him under close supervision at all times and to be alerted the moment he wakes up. That's an order."

"Hai captain!" Mitsuki, Sunako and Jōka all agreed. Sunako manipulated her sand into a giant hand so that it could carry the boy's unconscious body as they made the trek back outside of the cave.

As the three of them started the trip back, Sarada stayed behind with her boyfriend to put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

He paused and took a deep breath to calm his nerves before answering. "Yeah, I'm good."

The Uchiha girl lowered her eyes before speaking again. "You don't...You don't really think—?"

"I don't know what to think Sarada. I don't know if this kid is crazy or if he's just confused or what the hell's going on. All I know is we need to know everything he knows if we want any chance of making sense of all this."

She nodded, "You're right. Come on, we'd better catch up to the others."

As she started walking back out of the cave, Shinachiku stood where he was for a few seconds longer. He was looking down at his own hand, or more accurately, he was looking at the small, violet gem that he was holding in his hand.

'What kind of door have I opened here...?'

* * *

Well, on that ominous note, I think this is good place to end this chapter.

Okay, so this one ended up being more about Naruto's story line concerning the trial than it was about picking up on the Boruto cliffhanger from last time. I kind of felt I needed to pay that off after all of the build up I had given this trial in my previous work.

Yes, for those of you who haven't read it yet, I encourage you to please do me a favor and read another story I wrote called "Konoha Tonight," which serves as a prequel to this story and sets up a lot of story elements that will come into effect in this story. Think of it sort of as the viral marketing campaign for "Shinachiku's Next Adventure." In that story, I do a lot of talking about this pending trial and why it was so important, so if anybody was confused or lost of some of the details in here, I encourage you to give that story a read to give you a better idea of what is going on.

The trial scene itself was very directly influenced by one of the early scenes in "The Dark Knight." The trial of Sandosupai is structurally very similar to the trial of Sal Maroni, with Sandosupai as Maroni and Naruto, essentially, in the Harvey Dent role. There is even an attempted assassination by the witness that Naruto stops with his famous left hook (you know, the same left hook that he knocked out Neji with way back in the day).

The defendant himself, Sandosupai, is a literal translation of "sand traitor" in Japanese; not very subtle I know, but then again this character himself isn't exactly subtle either.

The witness, Ogata, was named after one of the main characters from the original 1954 _Godzilla_ (or _Gojira_ if you prefer). He was the young male lead in the movie that was the navy man that the female lead, Emiko, was secretly dating behind the back of her arranged fiance, Dr. Serizawa. If by some chance you have never seen the original film, please do yourself a favor and go seek it out, especially the original Japanese cut. The Raymond Burr version is good too, but the Japanese version is a film classic and one of the greatest monster movies ever made. Godzilla himself is the most blatantly metaphorical and menacing he's ever been, coming across as a pure force of nature and a living metaphor for the atomic bomb, and, despite obviously just being a man in a suit, he looks rather scary in black and white.

The judge I named Nisigima, a name I got from a supporting character in the new _Digimon Adventure tri_ films, the first of which I have recently seen in dubbed form and I eagerly await the other films to come out as well, me being a huge Digimon fan in my youth, especially for the original _Adventure_ season (not as much _02_ , especially not that damn epilogue, but I digress...)

I do plan on bringing Sandosupai back for some use later on, hence why he wins the trial here by, allegedly, either buying off or intimidating the jury. Mainly though, it was something that would seriously piss Naruto off. I want a parallel that saw both father and son, for different reasons, loosing their temper and becoming somehow physically destructive in an almost childish manner by the end of the chapter, with Naruto trashing Gaara's office and with Shinachiku punching his other dimensional double in the face.

In speaking of which, I kind of feel like the Shinachiku and Boruto stuff speaks for itself here. I well get more into the compare and contrast stuff as these two get to interact more later on, but for right now, this was meant to be the awkward, confusing first meeting. To Bolt's defense, he does have reason to be very confused by all of this. The two friends he has on his team are both very different than he remembers them and the girl that he obviously is being set up to have a crush on in his own world is in _this_ world dating some guy he's never met before. And before anybody asks, no, there will not be a love triangle between Shinachiku, Boruto and Sarada in this story, just a lot of awkwardness.

Funny story, I was at one point going to do some kind of scene where the group needs to make an escape through the jungle to get to safety, say from attacking natives of animals or something, like the end of the opening of _Raiders of the Lost Arc_. But as I was writing the chapter, that didn't seem to fit the flow of the storytelling, so I instead chose to just cut it off here. Consider it a deleted scene if you wish. I also considered cutting the scene to the song 'Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses...then I saw that terrible trailer to the new Jumanji movie that's coming out. Yikes! I changed my mind after that, and frankly, I admit that it would have been the most obvious and cliché song choice possible. I think the band said they're tired of so many people using the song anyway.

I think that's all I have for this one. I thank you all for reading this chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed it.

Until next time, see ya!


	5. Chapter 5--Shocking Revelations

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with another chapter of "Shinachiku's First Adventure!"

Thank you all once again for you patience with me getting this chapter done, and I really hope that all of you enjoy it.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 5: Shocking Revelations**

"Uhhh..."

The mysterious boy known only as Boruto Uzumaki opened his eyes with a fluttery grogginess. He was awakening from some long sleep that he didn't even remember taking...And for some reason his nose, while not broken, hurt really bad.

'What the...what happened? Where am I?'

He looked around and found that he was inside a hotel room of some kind. Inside the room along with him was a bed that he found himself laying on, with fresh blankets and pillows, a dresser, and a bag of some kind that was sitting on the bed with him.

Oh, there was something else too. You see...Boruto's hands were cuffed in front of his body.

"What the hell?!" he screamed out loud.

The boy ran up to the door and tried to open it to get out, only to realize that there was no lock on the inside of the room for him to open! Whoever was keeping him here had locked him in from the outside, and the room he was in had no windows so he could climb out of to escape.

"HEY!" he yelled from inside banging on the door. "Let me out of here! Let me out you bastards! When my dad here's about this he's gonna kick your asses! You hear me?!"

He kept up the screaming for at least another minute, but no one ever answered him.

"Crap!" He slumped down on the bed that had been provided for him and started thinking back about the last thing he remembered. The bright light, that weird portal dream, the cave, that blonde kid, Mitsuki and Sarada...

'Sarada...' Bolt could feel his own hands clench into fists from that weird blonde kid kissing her. The more he thought back on it, the more and more angry he became.

Those thoughts were interrupted though, when all of a sudden he heard and felt his stomach grumbling.

'Ohhh...so hungry...'

He looked back at the bag that was in the room with him and opened it up. In it he found just what his stomach was starving for, a sandwich, potato chips and a bottled water. but he also found a note, which he read to himself:

 _'Greetings. Hope you had a decent sleep and that you appreciate the accommodations. Someone will come to see you soon. We know you must be hungry, so please accept this meal with Captain Uzumaki's compliments._

 _~Mitsuki'_

"Son of a bitch!"

The boy's anger flared up all over again as he threw the free food he'd been offered against the wall, causing a mess that he couldn't have cared less about.

'When I get out of here, that kid is going to pay for this!'

...About fifteen minutes later, he all of a sudden heard what sounded like the lock outside the door opening up, followed by the door itself opening. Bolt immediately jumped off of the bed to see who it was. The door opened up to reveal a single, tall teenager boy with dark skin and light blonde hair. From the gray sweatshirt, white flak jacket with a single strap on the left shoulder that he wore over it, the black and red sweatpants, and the sword he wore strapped to his back, Bolt could tell he was obviously from the Hidden Cloud Village. The boy wore a poncho on top of all of that.

"Where am I?!" Boruto demanded.

"..."

"Answer Me!"

"..."

"SAY SOMETHING!"

The Cloud ninja did not say a word. Rather, he turned his head to his shoulder and flung it the opposite way, indicating that he wanted the boy to follow him.

Narrowing his eyes in suspicion, Bolt stood up and followed the dark-skinned boy out. Before he could leave the room however, the Cloud ninja pulled out another poncho and offered it to the blonde.

"No thanks!" Boruto scoffed. "Just take me to whoever's in charge!"

Without another word, the cloud ninja put the spare poncho back away, exiting the room for Boruto to follow.

The two of them walked down a hallway, one with blank walls and red carpet. The building only appeared to be a single floor tall and rather small, like an office building essentially. The blonde could see that there were maybe ten rooms in the entire place, based on the number of doors he counted as they walked down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" he asked the person in front of him.

The Cloud ninja, again, said nothing to him. He merely stopped in the middle of the hallway and opened a door to his side. Pushing the door open, he signaled with his hand for the boy to go inside.

Getting the message, he did as he was told, where he found a group of fourteen other kids that were all a couple years older than him. There were a couple of teenage girls in the room, both of whom were wearing blue clothes—one a blue shirt with white pants, the other a blue dress—and both wore the standard clothing of a Kiri ninja, consisting of a pinstriped material worn as bracers and greaves which merged into their sandals, a standard grey flak jacket, and both wore wrist guards. Both of the girls were fair skinned, but while one of them had blue eyes with red hair, the other had black eyes with light blue hair.

Then there was that black haired boy from the Stone Village that he remembered seeing before in the cave, dressed in that same red shirt and pants and brown flak jacket of his village that he wore the last time he saw him.

That girl from the Sand Village was there too, with her long and unkempt and dirty auburn hair, fair skin, pale blue-green eyes surrounded by think black rings. She was still dressed in that light sandy brown T-shirt with a long sleeved red shirt underneath with her black pants, black sandals, and she had her gourd of sand strapped to her side.

There was also a boy in the room with fair skin and dark hair. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, and the bottom part of his face was concealed underneath a dark green jacket. He looked awfully familiar to Boruto.

'S-Shino-sensei...no, it couldn't be...'

There were a pair of twins there as well, a boy and a girl, both of whom were fair skinned with brown hair and both had the red markings of the Inuzuka clan on their cheeks, and both of them were wearing gray sweatshirts and dark blue pants. They also both had a pet dog at their side, typical of their clan. But what really caught the boy's attention was that both of the twins had the same eyes...They were white eyes with a tinge of lavender. Boruto knew those eyes very well.

'Those look like...mom...?'

Then he saw four more faces, and thank goodness these were faces he actually _knew_ , and knew very well at that! The first was a Nara clan boy with teal eyes and black, spiky hair tied up in a ponytail. He was quite tall for his age, and he wore an unbuttoned black coat with a white T-shirt underneath it.

Next there was a Yamanaka boy with pale white skin, green eyes and blonde, shoulder-length hair which he kept in a small ponytail allowing the rest to fall about his face. He was dressed in a black collarless suit with mesh armor underneath. He carried a backpack containing a sketchpad, brushes and ink, the handles of which can be seen at each side.

Then there was a chubby Akimichi girl with dark skin and amber colored eyes. She had brown hair which she wore in two spiky ponytails kept back with a pink hair-band. The rest of her hair was left hanging down behind her back, with her bangs hanging over her left eye. She wore a sleeveless white kimono with a net T-shirt under it, a pair of black arm warmers, and a pair of black long shinobi boots.

All three of these children also all had one thing in common: they all had both of her ears pierced by grey stud earrings.

There was somebody else there that Boruto recognized. It was a boy with sharp dark eyes, a black bowl-style hair cut, and a pair of unmistakable bushy black eyebrows. Boruto especially could not mistake that hideous green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers and bandages over his hands, and that orange scarf he wore around his neck.

Then there was another boy, his teammate...or who he thought was his teammate until that craziness back in that cave. The boy in question was pale skinned with tousled white-blue hair, had thin white-blue eyebrows, and creepy golden eyes. He wore a loose-fitting two-toned light and dark blue kimono jacket with billowing sleeves that was tied by a thick. khaki-grey. Ono-stylized belt, and a pair of navy pants. He also wore black, long, fingerless gloves and black, calf-length shinobi sandals.

...And then there was her. His other teammate that betrayed him at that cave in the most shocking way possible. She appeared just at Bolt remembered her in that cave: fair complexion, onyx hair she wore in a straight shoulder-length style, and onyx eyes that we behind those red-rimmed glasses. She was dressed in that same black vest adorned with the Uchiha clan symbol that she wore over a white button-up shirt with red trim, along with white shorts and black sandals.

'Sarada...'

...And finally there was _him!_ The bastard that brought him here! The kid with the same bright blonde hair that Boruto himself had except this kid had a pair of green that Bolt swore looked familiar somehow. The kid was still dressed in that same stupid orange jacket, black pants, black armbands, and black sandals. Even more infuriating was that that jacket had _his_ clan's symbol on the back of it! Wrapped around that whirlpool symbol was a plain white circle, which Bolt thought looked awfully familiar too...

'Who is this guy...?'

"Ah!" The blonde leader of this group called out upon seeing their guest. "Good to see you awake. Thank you for bringing him Muon."

The Cloud Ninja merely nodded his head and took his place with the rest of his team.

"Hey!" Boruto called out to the silent ninja as he raised up his cuffed hands. "Could please get me out of these things?" He received no response. "Hey! I'm talking to you jerk!"

"Don't take it personally kid," The kid in the orange jacket said. "Muon doesn't talk to anyone. Ever."

"Why not?"

"He doesn't say."

Bolt sweat dropped in irritation. "Of course not. Well can one of _you_ get me out of these then?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," the Nara boy said to his captain. "Letting him walk around is dangerous as it is. We don't need his hands free right now so he can throw some crazy jutsu at us too."

"Oh come on Shikadai! What gives man!"

The Nara boy turned back to the mysterious boy in surprise. "How do you know my name?"

"What do you mean? We've been friends for years! We play video games together all the time! We just fought each other in the Chūnin Exams! Stop joking around man!"

Shikadai could only stare blankly. "...I think you have me confused with somebody else kid."

"That's precisely what I told him," Mitsuki chimed in.

"Mtsuki?" Boruto turned to somebody else in desperation. "Inojin, what's going on? Why are you guys all acting like you don't know who I am?"

The Yamanaka boy was confused himself. "Umm...because we _don't_ know you."

"What? But the three of us just played video games last week."

Inojin cocked an eyebrow. "I think I would have remembered playing games with someone like you."

Bolt shook his head in bewilderment. "Chōchō, tell Sarada that I'm not crazy please?"

The Akimichi girl narrowed her eyes in annoyance. "Tell her yourself, weirdo!"

By now the boy was gritting his teeth in frustration. "Metal! Can somebody _please_ tell me what's going on here?!"

Everybody looked around the room in confusion before Jōka finally spoke up for them. "Umm...who's Metal?"

"Him."

Boruto pointed at the boy with the bowl-style hair and the green jumpsuit, causing the boy in question to stare in total confusion.

"Forgive me good sir," he retorted, "but I am afraid that you are mistaken once again. "This 'Metal' person you are referring to is not who I am. My name is Burandon Lee, son of the mighty and ever-youthful Leaf ninja Rock Lee and Lady—"

"No it's not! Don't be stupid man! You're name's Metal Lee; always has been!"

"Hey!" Okami putted in. "Back off dude! His name's Burandon! And he's our friend!"

"No, he's _my_ friend! I have no clue who the hell _you_ people are! And besides, what kind of stupid ass name is _Burandon_ anyway?!"

"What kind of stupid ass name is _Metal?!_ Come on dude, _Metal Lee?!_ That sounds like something Doctor Eggman would come up with!"

"Doctor who?"

"Eh...it's something I saw in a video game once, but whatever! You'd better start making some sense kid, or else you're going back to Konoha so the Anbu can deal with you!"

"Ōkami!"

The Inuzuka boy silenced himself at his friend and captain's outburst. Scoffing in irritation, he stepped down and stood next to his sister as his leader came back forward.

"Listen," the blonde said, "I'm sure you probably have a lot of questions and, frankly so do we. I..." the boy scratched the back of his head and blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry for what happened back in that cave...And I'm sorry for punching you and knocking you unconscious too. That was mean of me."

Boruto touched his hand to his nose. "Wait, _that's_ why me nose hurts so much! What the hell did you do that for?!"

The blonde blushed even deeper. "Yeah...Listen, I got ticked off by something you said back there and..." He sighed and let out a deep sigh before he stepped forward to personally look his doppelganger in the eye. "After we got you back here, I had the time to calm down and think things over from your point of view...I realize now that, whoever you are and wherever you come from, you probably are just as confused and lost as we are, maybe even more."

The boy smiled the most honest and polite smile he could muster. "So how about we take this opportunity to start over."

Pulling a key out of his pocket and used it to unlock the other boy's handcuffs. They clanged to the floor as Boruto shook his wrists to get the kinks out of them.

He extended his hand. "Hi, I'm Shinachiku Uzumaki. What's your name?"

Boruto glared at the hand for a solid five seconds, thinking long and hard, before finally reached out to take the hand...

...Or so it appeared, before he instead punched the boy right in the face, just as he had done to him back in that cave!

As Shinachiku fell back to the floor, Boruto made a mad dash to the door, pushing everyone out of his way to get out of other as he started running down the hallway.

"We can't let him escape!" Sarada shouted.

The entire team filed out of the room to chase after the boy. Catching him in their sights. Shikadai tried making his move.

"SHADOW POSSESSION JUTSU!"

The Nara boy cast his shadow out down the hall to try and reach him, but whatever training this kid had clearly was formidable because he was too quick, making his way down the next hallway before the shadow could reach him.

"Damn!" Shikadai cursed.

"Let me take care of this," Inojin proclaimed as he whipped out his sketchbook try drawn a terrible beast that he could project directly into the boy's mind.

"Wait!"

The team turned around to see their captain getting back up, his face still squinting from the blow he'd taken to the face.

"But Captain," Mitsuki protested, "there's no telling how much of a danger this boy might the if he's allowed to escape from here."

"He won't get far," Shina stated. "Don't forget where we are. And I've got a feeling this kid isn't prepared to deal with what's outside these walls..."

Boruto just kept running, and running, and running. He couldn't stop. He had no idea where he was or why so many of his friends didn't seem to know him. All he knew was that he had to get away from these people. He had to find the answer to what was going on before any of these people did Sage only knows what to him instead.

'Man! I sure wish Konohamaru-sensei and Uncle Sasuke were here right now!'

Turning down another hallway, he saw a door, a glass door, and on the other side of it, he could clearly see the outside world.

'There it is! I'm home free!'

Running down the hall, he ran straight for it and kicked the door open! But what he found on the other side was...snow. Snow and ice. He was in some sort of icy, snow-covered country. There was a blizzard going on outside, a nasty one that was blowing tons of snow straight into the boy's face, but more importantly, the weather was absolutely freezing! The deep levels of snow on the ground made running, nee walking, a seriously difficult endeavor. But it didn't matter to Boruto. He had to get away, that was all there was to it...

...

Boruto felt as though he'd been moving through the snow for hours. He couldn't feel his feet anymore...Or his face...Or his fingers..Or even the warmth of his own blood...

'Must...keep...moving...Must...find mom...find...Himawari...find...d...da...'

The cold, the blizzard, it was too much. The boy fell face forward into the snow. He was so cold that none of his muscles could move anymore. He could see his eyes getting heavy as he was about to pass out...about to die...

The last things he saw before his eyes closed were three mountains, ones that stretched outward from the rock like they were looking in over you. The icicles that hung down from the snow-covered peaks, and the ragged icicles protruding at the base, gave the silhouette of some ravenous animals with their jaws agape, like a trio of hungry, vicious wolves.

...At least, those three wolves were the last things he saw before a dark, shadowy figure stepped into his view, his form standing above him just as he passed out...

...

"Captain! We've found him!"

Shinachiku waddled through the snow, his poncho and cold resistant clothes keeping him nice and warm even as the blizzard kept billowing around him. He made his way to the source of the voice to join Muon and two more of his teammates, the girls from Kirigakure: Bōis, the girl who called out for him, and her best friend and lover On'na.

"Good job." Shina looked down at the boy with pity. He noticed Muon kneeling down to check for his pulse. "Is he alive?"

Muon merely looked back up and nodded his head.

"Good. Then let's hurry and get him back to base before he freezes to death."

"But what if he tries to run away again?" On'na asked.

Shinachiku hesitated for only a moment. He hated to have to resort to this, but after his last offer of hospitality backfired so badly, it didn't seem he any other choice. "Let get him back, then warm him up while he's tied up in a straight jacket. I can't afford any chances that he might try to escape again."

As his teammates got to work picking the freezing boy up out of the snow, Shinachiku hung back for a moment to think to himself, all the while clutching a small violet gem that he was keeping in his pocket. 'After all, that boy's may be the only one who can help us learn what we've gotten ourselves into...''

* * *

It was late at night, well past dusk, and inside a lovely and well-kept house in the Land of Water, a beautiful young woman with fair skin, long blonde hair and black eyes was sitting at her desk reading from one of her favorites books. it was a story about a forbidden romance, about a boy and a girl who became brother and sister after their parents fell in love and decided to remarry. But as the two of them were allowed to grow closer, the two of them found themselves fallen in love also. It was taboo, it was incestuous, and it would destroy both them and their family in anyone were to find out...That's why the two of them decided to hatch a plan.

'Oh my Hideaki...'

 _CLING! CLING!_

The woman was interrupted from her reading at the sound of rocks being thrown at her window. Setting her book down on her desk, she walked over to her window and opened it. Her room was on the second floor of her family's house, so when she looked down to the lawn, she was able to make out seven figures disguised in multicolored cloaks and hoods. She could see them in the darkness, but she knew that these late night visitors had their faces hidden beneath colored masks that matched their cloaks.

The woman nudged her head to signal them to come up to her room. So, one at a time, each of the seven used their superior ninja speed and agility to stealthily leap upward onto the woman's window sill. Their leader wearing white was the first to come into the woman's room through her widow. Following him was the one dressed in red, then the one dressed in green. After the three of them came the one in black, then the one in blue, then the one in pink, and finally the one in yellow.

"It's about time you came back," the woman said in irritation.

"My apologies Lady Harada," the man in white said as the rest of his team filed into the room. "It did take some effort to procure the cargo from the robbery as we agreed."

"Yes," the woman said as she sat back down at her desk and folded her arms. "That little robbery of yours sure did stir up quite a lot of attention."

"The robbery was meant to wrestle the feathers of Taka and their allies. The Union has no reason to suspect the Harada crime family has anything to do with what we'd done that night. Least of all, any reason to suspect you, Katsumi."

The woman narrowed her eyes in seriousness. "I'm counting on that." She got up from her desk again and walked up to the masked man in white. "You know, we are all lucky that my father is asleep for this discussion, or else all of us would be in a great deal of trouble. Under no circumstances can anyone else know that I am plotting against my uncle."

The man smiled wickedly as he removed his mask. Behind the mask was a young man with handsome features and with black hair with blonde tips and bangs hanging over one of his blue eyes with onyx pupils. The man also had three familiar whisker-like markings on each of his cheeks.

"You mean," the man corrected, "no one else but you, myself, my team and your beloved I presume."

The woman appeared utterly composed at what her guest had just said, but that was purely a facade. On the inside, she was panicking. No, scratch that, she was utterly terrified.

"I don't know what you're talking about Sugure."

The man in white smirked again. "Dan?"

The member of Sugure's team dressed in blue stepped forward and pulled out a handful of photographs. He held them out for the young woman to see for herself, but he refused to hand them over to her.

Katsumi gasped in horror. 'Oh Kami no...'

The photos were of herself...late at night...in an ally in the Hidden in the Mist...in the arms of a man two years her junior, with whom she was sharing an passionate kiss.

"Where did you get those?!" Katsumi demanded in fury.

"I make it my business to know anything and everything there is to know about whomever I'm working for," Sugure stated. "I don't make deals with anyone without first making a little insurance for myself to ensure my clients don't try to cheat their way out of our agreement."

"You bastard!"

Katsumi lunged at the man in blue, the one called Dan, to try and snatch the incriminating photos from his hand. But Dan just as quickly put the photos away back into his cloak. When the woman attempted to wrestle them from him by force, she was forced to back away when both the man in red and the man in green each formed a chirping flurry of electrical chakra from their hands. She needed to back away and stand down, not only out of fear of the brother's technique while she was in her currently unarmed condition, but also to make sure that no one else in the house was woken up form the noise of that foreboding chirping. Once she had backed down, the brothers cancelled out their jutsus.

Sugure smirked in arrogance at the woman's situation. "You know, your Uncle Hanzai is already in enough hot water after one of his men was called forth as a witness in the Sandosupai trial. I wonder what it would do to him if he were to learn that his own niece was plotting a coup to have him and both his son's killed so that her father could take his place as the new head of one of the most powerful crime families in the world, thereby making his eldest daughter the natural next in line to inherit the empire."

The man in white held out his hand and Dan handed the photos to him. "But of course, your father is still a man loyal to his older brother, so it wasn't hard to figure out that he knows nothing about this heinous scheme you've cooked up my dear." He held up one of the photos of Katsumi and the man she was having her affair with. "That's Hideaki isn't he?"

The young woman said nothing, she just stood there trying to maintain the sternest, most serious and uncompromising expression she could muster. But that was a mask, a mask for the fear that was consuming her very soul as she stared at the picture of herself and the man she loved.

Sugure looked at the photo himself before shacking his head slowly. "I can't imagine what your father would say if he knew how his own children were spending their nights. Tell me, which of you made the first move? You...or your little brother?"

Katsumi clenched her hands into fists. "You leave Hideaki out of this."

"I'm not the one who dragged him into this. _You_ did young lady." The man in white actually chuckled. "Was that your plan? Have your own uncle and cousin's killed so your father can inherit the empire, that way once you take over not only will you have all the power, but then you two won't have to hide your relationship anymore? Hmm...is _that_ your master plan?"

...The Harada family heiress said nothing, only diverted her eyes downwards.

That was all the explanation that Sugure needed to hear. "And people think _I'm_ a monster."

"...How much?"

"Pardon me?"

"How much do you want for the photos?"

"Only what we originally agreed upon, nothing more."

The blonde woman was surprised. "I don't understand. Why blackmail me if—?"

"Not blackmail, insurance, just in case you try to weasel your way out of our deal."

Katsumi narrowed her eyes. "How do I know you won't just show those photos to my father or my uncle yourself once you have what you want?"

Sugure's answer was the hold out his hand with the photos, seemingly offering them up for her to take. She hesitated for only a moment before making the slightest move, which prompted Sugure to pull them right back.

"Give me what you promised, and I will give you the photos to keep, hide, burn, shred, whatever you want with them. Also, I will honor our original deal and help you with your coup when I go to meet with your uncle in a few days."

Katsumi paused for only a moment before walking over to her closet, sliding the door open and rummaging through her stuff. She could feel the eyes of the man in white and his team upon her, even while she was inside of her closet and out of their sight.

Eventually, she came back out and handed him a large scroll. one made of very old, faded paper and rolled up with a unique seal, a seal depicting what looked like four beasts—a black tortoise, a azure dragon, a vermilion bird, and a white tiger—the was holding the paper in place.

"This document was stolen from the research vaults of Gunpei Yamane, a professor of mythology and folklore in Iwagakure. My uncle loves collecting antiques and rare artifacts and so he bought it on the black market years back, but he lost interest in it after a while and decided that it wasn't worth the money he'd paid for it. He gave it to me because he knew I studied mythology in school, so he figured I might have been interested in it."

Sugure took the scroll from her. "And now you have no regrets about parting with it?"

"That old thing hasn't done anything for my either, other than collecting dust. If that thing is what you want, then you can have it for all I care. Just as long as the old man's out of the picture and I get put in place to one day take over the family empire."

"I see." Sugure passed the scroll over to one of his teammates, the one in black roles, the one called Goushi.

"Now the photos!" Katsumi demanded.

Sugure nodded, and held his hand back out. She then rapidly grabbed them out of his hand and tore them to pieces.

It was then that the woman started to get a bit suspicious herself. "But now I have a question: What do _you_ want it for?"

Sugure now narrowed his own eyes. "Me giving you that information wasn't part of our deal."

"Fine. So now you'll come back to meet with my uncle then?"

"Yes. The money we stole from Taka will do more than just tick off everyone on their payroll who's wallets are about to get lighter. The amount we took will cover your uncle's price for the _other_ item we'd like from his collection."

Katsumi remembered what he was referring to. "Oh yes, the weapon."

"Indeed." Sugure turned his back to her as she started walking back towards the window, him team gathering around him. "So we're in agreement. You gave me the scroll, and in return I'll help you deal with your uncle as soon as I've met with him to claim the weapon."

"Deal."

The man in white was about to step out of the window before Katsumi called out to her again. "Wait! My father is a powerful man. What makes you so sure you can defeat him?"

Sugure turned his head back around and answered her question in complete seriousness. "Because I am your uncle's superior, m'lady."

"In what?"

"...Everything."

With that, he leapt out of the window, the rest of his team following them. This meant that Katsumi was now all alone in her room, left with nothing but her thoughts and her scheming for the power grab she was about to initiate in the next few days, and for the paradise that was destined to come from it.

 _KNOCK! KNOCK!_

There was another knock, this time on her bedroom door. Katsumi checked the clock on her nightstand. It was 11:00 pm, and her father was a notoriously sound sleeper. That meant that there could only be one person behind that door.

She opened it, and there he was. Young, handsome, in decent shape with that messy black hair and those piercing black eyes.

"Hey big sis."

"Hideaki..."

Katsumi quickly embraced her little brother in a hug, which he was quick to return as he quietly closed the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone in her room.

"I heard voices. Were they here?"

"Yes, they just left. I gave him what he wanted and now Sugure and his team are going to help us."

"And how do you know we can trust him?"

"...I don't. As soon as Uncle Hanzai and Cousins Seiichi and Jiro are gone, I'm going to put a kunai through his skull myself."

"Seems a bit harsh, doesn't it?"

She broke up the hug and she looked out her window. "We only need him to take care of uncle's branch of the family. Once that's done, his usefulness to us will be at an end."

The boy smiled. "What about the weapon?"

"That old piece of junk? Who cares? It's just another dusty relic from uncle's collection. Once this is finished we can just throw that thing in the trash for all I care, same with that stupid scroll I gave him tonight."

"I though you made a deal that he could have it?"

"I did..." Katsumi turned back around to give him an evil smirk. "...But I never said for how long."

Smirking himself, Hideaki walked over to his sister and put his arms around her shoulders. "That's the kind of spirit that drives me crazy about you."

"I know." She found herself leaning in closer to him, until she saw he was turning his head away. "What's wrong?"

"It's...You know how much Uncle Hanzai cares about me."

Now she understood everything that was bothering him loud and clear. "He's sees you as another son. Far more that that weakling Jiro."

"Hey!" Hideaki suddenly got defensive. "Don't you go underestimating him. Our cousin Jiro's way stronger than anybody gives him credit for. I've seen it."

Katsumi merely brushed it off. "Please brother, Jiro's just a goody good bookworm that would see our family give our fortune away to charity rather than invest in drugs, weapons, you know, the things that made the Haradas what we are today. His own father hates him, you've seen that yourself, we all have. He's no threat."

Hideaki frowned. He really did like Jiro, and he did see an inner strength beneath his reserved, seemingly weak exterior, something that should not be underestimated. Still, she had a point. It was much more important to do something about their elder cousin Seiichi first, that big, tall, strong, smart, and utterly savage killer, the kind of son that Hanzai loves, and the kind of man that needed to be removed for their takeover to be successful.

"What if...What if this coup doesn't go as we planned?"

She comforted him. "It's a brilliant idea. Uncle will never see it coming, and father will be the head of the family by the end of the night. And more importantly, _I'll_ be the next in line."

"And me?"

Katsumi grabbed hold of his chin and looked into his eyes lovingly. "You wont have to hide yourself anymore. When father passes you'll sit right beside me and we'll lead the family together. My partner. My love."

Hideaki still wasn't fully convinced. "What if the Union comes after us?"

Her eyes widened in surprised before she laughed out loud. "Ha! Uzumaki and his bozo friends are too busy dealing with Taka to pay any attention to us."

"Ogata's testimony in court could still—"

"Stop worrying! We'll get to all of that in time." She took his hand and sat him down with her on the bed. "You and I were made for this, I know it in my heart." She took his hand and placed it on her heart. "This...This is not a mistake. You and I are meant to be. To hell with what the others say, Soon none of it will matter. Our word will be law."

"And since when do you believe in the law?

She smiled as she lightly pushed him onto her bed and leaned in over him. "Only one law, my love. _My_ law."

She was done waiting. She wanted him. She leaned into him just before she turned out the light...

...

"Sugure?"

The leader of the team of superior beings turned to face his man in black. "What is it Goushi?"

"You and I both know that woman is going to betray us as soon as the coup in over."

"Of course I know. I'm not a fool."

"Then why are we wasting our time with this?"

"Goushi!" Geki protested, but Sugure raised his hand to tell him to stand down, which his second-in-command promptly did.

"To eliminate a potential threat before they get in the way of our real mission. First the Harada crime family, then Taka, and then our real work can begin."

"Seems like an awful lot of work just to get a hold of the weapon," Boi spoke up. "You sure we couldn't have just taken it from the old man by force?"

"Hold your tongue Boi!" Geki protested. "You do not question the master's judgment!"

"G-Gomen master."

"Apology accepted." He paused. "Actually you do have a point. But sometimes going along with conspiracies and alliances is necessary to keep up the illusion of compliance in order to fully disguise one's true endeavors. Don't worry though, that incestuous harlot can have her five minutes of glory before we personally send her and her wretched family to the place in Hell she deserves. The Union, Taka, the Haradas... _everyone_ will get what's coming to them."

"I look forward to it," Burai said.

"Me too," Mei agreed.

"So when do we get in touch with her father, master?" Dan questioned.

"Tomorrow morning. For now let's find ourselves a place to rest for the night."

At their leader's insistence, the group followed him as they made their way through the village in search of the nearest motel. He looked at the scroll he had gotten from the harlot and smirked. "Once we get the weapon as well, we can then get all else we need to make a better world...A _superior_ world..."

* * *

"Uhhh..."

Boruto Uzumaki felt his eyes flutter open. It must have been the second time he'd fallen asleep and woke up somewhere he didn't know where he was.

He was back in a plain white room, one with no windows and only one door that lead out of the place. The floors were carpeted, but there was nothing hanging on the walls or the ceiling. It was about the most boring, blandest room one could imagine.

But the room itself wasn't the thing that immediately caught the boy's attention. You see, he was not alone in this place. Sitting in a chair right across from him was that stupid blonde kid again, that Shina-chizu, whatever he said his name was!

"YOU!"

Boruto actually tried to lunge at the kid in fury, but found that he could not. His arms and upper body had been bound up in a straight jacket, and his legs had been shackled to the ground. There was no way he was going to be going anywhere.

"What is this?!" he demanded furiously.

Shinachiku sighed. "I really didn't want it to come to this. I tried to be nice and speak to you as a peer. But then you had to go and escape, so we had no choice but to bind you up."

The younger blonde scoffed. "So I'm your prisoner now?"

"Only if you keep resisting us."

Bolt was in no mood for this crap! He just kept trying to shake himself free of his bonds to no avail.

Shinachiku sighed. "You know, you really should be thanking us. If my team and I hadn't found you when we did, you would have frozen to death out there."

Bolt gritted his teeth, not willing to say out loud that he did, indeed, owe this bastard his life. "Where are we?"

'Good,' Shinachiku thought to himself. 'Maybe now this kid will finally start cooperating.' He then proceeded to answer his question. "We're back in the same building you woke up in last time."

"And where is that anyway?"

"This is my team's headquarters, a place in the Land of Iron that the Union had provided for us to operate out of during our extended mission."

"What mission?"

Shina cocked an eyebrow. "To find the rest of the chakra gems, of course."

Bolt was totally lost now. "The _what?_ What are you talking about?"

Now it was Shina's turn to appear confused. "Umm...don't you watch the news kid? Y'know, the magic gems that can give someone the powers of a god. The weapons of mass destruction that we need to beat Taka to finding before they can use them to destroy the whole world."

The only reaction he got back from the boy was an utterly blank stare.

The older blonde sighed. "Alright, lets put that aside for right now. Why don't you try telling me about yourself first?"

The younger blonde said nothing.

"When we found you back in that cave you told me your name was Boruto. But you also told me your last name was Uzumaki. That has me and my team _very_ interested in you."

"What's that supposed to mean creep?"

Shina realized that maybe his choice of words might not have been the best, "Gomen, gomen! That's not what I meant!" The older blonde got himself serious again. "But seriously, I _need_ to know the truth from you. Are you really a member of the Uzumaki clan?"

Boruto glared down his capture in anger before finally answering him. "...Yes."

Shinachiku studied the boy in silence for a couple of seconds. He memorized his face, that same color of blonde hair, those whisker marks on his cheeks. 'He...He looks like...no. No that can't be! He would never...'

The captain of the CGRS needed to calm himself down before he asked his next question, a question he was quite frankly terrified that he already knew the answer to. "Who is your father?"

The microseconds that passed before the boy answered felt like an eternity to Shinachiku. He prayed to Sage himself that what this boy was about to tell him was anything, _anything_ but what he feared...

"My dad's name is Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki."

Shinachiku's heart sank into his stomach. It was true. It was all true! He didn't need to read minds to know that none of this was a lie. The kid's face, what the voice in his mind said when he touched the gem, everything fit!

'The voice...he said something about...a multiverse...What the hell was...?'

"Hey!" the captive shouted. "I told you what you wanted to know, now let me go so I can kick your ass!"

That rude outburst snapped Shina out of his thoughts and back to reality. He looked at the young blonde kid in front of him. He wanted, no, _needed_ to know the answer to his next question. "Kid...who was your mother?"

"Hinata Hyūga. What's it to you anyway creep?!"

Shina felt his eyes starting to dilate and his head getting dizzy. 'A-Aunt H-Hinata... I-I knew she used to have a crush on dad, but his... Dad would never... NO! No this can't be what it looks like!'

"My..." Shinachiku spoke again. "...My mother's name is Sakura Haruno."

In that one instant, all of Boruto's anger took a back seat to surprise and confusion. "Huh? Wait, you mean your...EW! What the fuck man?!"

"Excuse me?"

"You're Sarada's _brother?!_ Why the hell are you kissing her then you bastard?!"

Shina was at a loss for words. That was, without a single doubt, the most bizarre thing he had ever heard anybody say to him in his entire life. "I...I don't—"

"You sick son a bitch!" Boruto yelled. "When I get out of here I'm gonna kick the crap out of you for making out with your own sister!"

"She's not my sister you idiot! She's my girlfriend! Why the hell would you even think that in the first place?!"

"Because my Aunt Sakura is Sarada's mom. Duh!"

...

There it was again...Shina's heart sank into his feet for a second time. His entire world, everything and everyone he knew and lived, all of it was now a complete fucked up beyond any possible comprehension.

"Wait...my mom, and Sarada's dad...and my Aunt Hinata and _my_ dad...?"

"What do you mean your dad? What's going on here?!"

"Kid..." Shina paused before he said another word. "...Naruto Uzumaki is _my_ father too..."

...

Nobody could say a word. No one could work up any anger. No one could breathe. No one had any blood left in their faces. All the two blondes could do was stare at one another both in horror and disbelief.

Both boy's, however, did share the same thought going through each of their minds: 'What the fuck on going on? Are you...my brother...?'

* * *

Oh boy! This can't be good! The cat's out of the bag now that both boy's know exactly who each others parent's are. Where am I going with all of this? You'll have to keep waiting to find out.

As the title suggests, this chapter was all about shocking revelations, but not just about the boy's learning the real truth about each others parentage. We also got to meet Katsumi, a key member of the infamous Harada crime family that I have been setting up in both this story and in the prequel "Konoha Tonight." She's been making a deal with our main villains behind her uncle's back to arrange it so she may one day inherit the empire. I wanted to create a young and truly despicable female villain, so while deception and coups are nothing new in mob families, seeing it staged from a young woman to have her own family killed just to grab power, well, not to lay on gender stereotypes, but that's the kind of cold hearted deception that you usually see males heirs plotting in these kinds of stories.

More importantly though, I added in that besides her desire for power, this woman also is motivated by creating a future for her and her brother, with whom she is in an incestuous relationship with. I swear, I do not know where this idea came from, but for some bizarre reason mob families and incest somehow felt like they fit together for me. You know what I think it is? The late Mario Puzo, the writer of "The Godfather," wrote his final, posthumous novel "The Family," based on the real life of Pope Alexander VI and his family. The novel involved many themes, including incest. I've never read the book, but I think knowing that a legendary writer so well known for writing epics involving the Mafia also had a novel relating to incest on his resume probably stuck out in the back of my mind. I want to apologize to anyone who may have been offended by a revelation like this, but at least this is not relating to any of the main characters, or even the main villains. Also, it does add another level of darkness that, even in the Naruto universe, something like this can happen.

For the record, some of Katsumi and Hideaki's dialog in their scene together was inspired by the surprise bedroom scene between Talon and Samantha in the animated movie "Batman vs. Robin."

In speaking of surprise affairs, this chapter was also the introduction to the remaining members of Shinachiku's team, consisting not only of his friends from Konoha, but also some new characters from the other hidden villages. We've already met Jōkā in the previous chapters, but now we also get to meet the girls from Kirigakure, Bōis and On'na. I decided to try something progressive and establish that these two are not only friends but also in a lesbian relationship with each other. As far as I know, there aren't any canonically LGBT characters in the Naruto franchise (please correct me in the comments if I am wrong), so this was another idea I thought could help to broaden out the universe more. Bōis is meant to be more of a tomboyish character, while On'na is a more feminine one, so here there names are very loosely lifted from the Japanese words for "boyish" and "girlish."

We also get to meet one more new member of Shina's team, Muon from Kumogakure. I think this guy might be the most interesting of the new characters to me personally just because I wanted to have a character who doesn't talk. I suppose if you needed some sort of analogy, you can think of Muon as the Snake Eyes of this group. His name is Japanese for "silent one."

The last big thing I wanted to do with this chapter was that I wanted to bring our villains back, because we haven't seen Sugure and his gang since the prologue. I realize the web of conspiracy here might seem a bit complicated, but what's important here is that Sugure is making deals with both Katsumi and her uncle, Hanzai Harada, to get two valuable items that he needs to complete his own master plan. Give it time and all of this will smooth out. Besides, it does imply how much of a genius strategist this genetically engineered superman is that he can manipulate people so well.

I think that's all I have to say for this one. Once again, thank you all for reading, and I look forward to seeing you back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	6. Chapter 6--Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi back once again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

This latest chapter has to be the longest one I have written for this story so far, and I have to say, most of that is because of this one scene that I had in my head for a while that evolved into something much, much bigger than I first imagined it being. I'll get into it more at the end. For now, I think it best that let you all go and just enjoy the chapter itself.

So, with that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 6: Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang**

 _RING! RING! RING! RING!_

In a lavish office, one with a single window overlooking an even more lavish night club floor down below, an older man with dark black hair and graying sideburns, with a physically fit form and fat cheeks, dressed in a fine black tuxedo, sat at his desk as his phone rang.

To the public, he was a wealthy man, the owner of _The Azure Dragon_ , the most lavish nightclub in Kirigakure. But everyone knew the truth however, even if the law could never find the evidence it needed to prove it. This man was the infamous Hanzai Harada, one of the most powerful and influential underworld kingpins in the ninja world, and the ruthless leader of the Harada crime family. No one dared cross him, else they end up with either a kunai in their head, at the bottom of the ocean in a pair of cement shoes, or something much, much worse.

Drinking his morning coffee, he picked up the phone and spoke. "Yeah?"

"Ohayōgozaimasu, Harada-sama."

The crime lord sat up in his chair at the sound of the voice. "Ah, it's you."

"Hai. It is an honor to speak to you again Lord Harada. I realize that you are an extremely busy man and that this is call in coming early in the morning, but I wanted to speak to you about the arrangement we discussed."

"Yes, yes, I remember. Have you come up with my price?"

"Indeed. I can have your money for you whenever you wish to meet. Say in two days or so?"

"Nonsense. By all means, come to the club tonight and we'll talk business over dinner. It'll be a good opportunity for you and your friends to take in a good show as well."

"That is very kind of you sir, honestly."

"Good. I let the bouncer know to let you in and make sure all seven of you are on the guest list. But please come in formal attire, your usual outfits might attract too much attraction from my guests."

"I understand sir. We'll be there for dinner at 8 o' clock, and we'll bring the payment."

"And I'll make sure to bring the item I promised you."

"Domo arigato, Harada-sama."

"You're welcome."

With the conversation ended, Hanzai slammed the phone down in disgust. God he hated talking to that freak! But no matter, soon it would all be over with.

Taking another sip of his coffee, Hanzai looked at one of the forms on his desk before hearing a knock on the door. "Enter."

The door opened and in stepped three young men. Two of the men resembled Hanzai himself, only much younger and more fit. One was shorter than the other, signifying their age difference. The third man was young and handsome with messy black hair, but had a greater resemblance to Hanzai's brother, for obvious reasons.

"Boys," Hanzai said as he sat up in his chair.

"Father," the eldest son spoke, "we couldn't help overhearing from outside. Was that him?"

"Yes it was Seiichi. He has the money."

"So then he'll be coming here tonight?"

"Yes."

The younger son spoke next. "And that means that we'll trade the weapon for the money and be done with this deal then?"

"No you fool!" Hanzai shouted in disgust. "The man in white will come here but he will not get my most prized relic from my collection!"

"But father, you made a deal—?"

"SILENCE!" The young son backed off at his father's furious outburst. "I will not have you question me Jiro!"

"But—"

"Nor will I hear anymore of your proposals to invest the money he'll be paying us to any of those insignificant charities of yours!"

"Father, I was only—"

 _WHACK!_

One ruthless slap to the face, that was what knocked poor Jiro Harada to the floor. But the blow did not come from his father, but rather his own elder brother, Seiichi.

"Mind your tongue, you weak spec of human trash!"

Jiro appeared ashamed for only a moment, before he clenched his fist in frustration. No one in the room noticed this except for the boy's cousin, the young man who had yet to say anything.

Disgusted, Hanzai just wanted to end the scene. "Hideaki, pick this weakling up and get him out of my sight!"

Nodding, Hideaki did just that. He watched as Jiro left his father's office, his head hung low but his hands still in fists.

After the door was closed, the senior Harada spoke to his eldest, and favorite, son. "Seiichi, have you made the proper arrangements as we've discussed?"

The ruthless young heir to the Harada crime family smiled wickedly. "Yes father, its been completed. The man in white will never know the difference. We'll get our money, and he _won't_ get a thing from your collection."

Hanzai smiled himself. "Very good."

It was then that the nephew spoke up finally. "With all due respect uncle, maybe it would be wise for us to personally inspect the situation ourselves? Just to make absolutely certain that the man in white won't be able to tell the difference?"

Hanzai nodded his head. "I am in complete agreement. Good thinking Hideaki, you're going to go far in this family one day boy."

The young man thought to himself, 'You have no idea how soon that will be, old man...'

"By the way nephew, how's that girl you've been seeing?"

Hideaki blushed profusely, partially in embarrassment, but also out of fear. "W-What?!"

"Don't try to hide is son, my men say they saw you around the town talking to some pretty girl the other day."

The young man relaxed. "Oh, no, no she's not my girlfriend uncle."

The old man frowned. "That's a shame. A handsome, smart, strong young man like you, you're going to make a woman very happy one day."

Hideaki didn't say a word, holding his composure to give away nothing in spite of what his uncle was saying. Now was not the time for the old man to know that he already had the perfect woman in his life.

"Come on cousin," Seiichi interrupted. "Best we leave father to get back to work. You can help me get it ready in time for our guest's arrival."

"Hai," Hideaki said. "Good day uncle."

Hanzai bade them farewell with a bow as his son and nephew left the office. But outside, Hideaki was smiling to himself. He had a lot of work to do to get things in order, but when all was done, it would all be worth it...

* * *

"All aboard for Konoha! Train leaves in ten minutes!"

The conductor's voice rang across the entire station, alerting everyone that it was time to get their belongings and get on board before they missed their ride. Amongst the crowd were a familiar group of five, three of whom needed to say their final goodbyes before catching their train back home.

"Well I guess this is goodbye again, huh sis?"

Kankurō's quip merely earned an amused chuckle from the eldest of the sand siblings, who then embraced her brother in a warm hug.

"I'm sorry we have to leave like this," Temari said.

"Ah! Don't be a stiff," Kankurō assured her as they broke their hug. "We'll see each other again soon enough. After all, Gaara and I have to keep tabs on that nephew of ours, don't we?"

Shikamaru, ever the blatant factualist, corrected his brother-in-law. "She meant that it's a shame that Sandosupai's going to walk."

The puppet master scowled in annoyance. "No shit Shikamaru, I was just trying to brighten the mood a bit before we parted ways. Geez! You're such a buzz kill!"

Gaara spoke up next. "This is not the end. Sandosupai will slip up again sooner or later, and when he does, we'll be ready for him."

"He's right! That's the great thing about Taka: they always give you second chances."

The Nara clan leader was impressed at the return of Naruto's optimistic outlook on life. "Well, you sure are in a better mood this morning."

Naruto gave his adviser his trademark big, goofy smile that never failed to lift up anybody's spirits. "Yeah, well, I guess that night at the hotel gave me some time to think things over and calm down after the trial yesterday. What's done is done, we can't change the past. All we can do now is regroup and make sure we're ready the next time we get a big break like this."

The others were all smiling at the Orange Hokage's outlook, except for Gaara, but he was fully happy on the inside even if, as usual, his outer exterior did not showcase it.

Shikamaru was impressed, and frankly a bit relieved to see his old friend and boss in such a good mood again. 'It's so nice to get a taste of the old Naruto again. This last year we've all spent hunting down Taka has really changed him. It's nice to know that he hasn't forgotten how to by happy and relax after all.'

"So Naruto," Gaara spoke, "I assume you will be back at work reviewing further leads into possible Taka leads once you're back in Konoha?"

...Naruto hesitated to answer at first. Normally that would have been exactly what he would do as soon as he got home...But what happened between him and Sakura, him and his mother, and how angry he got after losing the trial...That night alone in his hotel room gave him plenty of time to stop and really think things through. He was working to save the world from a great evil...but what was the point of all of it if he could no longer be there for the people he loved most, for the people who _were_ his whole world?

"Actually, I think maybe its about time I take a little break from work for a little while and spend some time with my family."

The others were clearly surprised, but it was Temari who spoke for the rest of them. "Uh, are Hokage's _allowed_ to take a break during crises like this? Won't that make you look bad?"

"Naw, I think it'll be good. I can have Kakashi or one of the old Elders fill in for me while I take some time to clear my head."

"Clear your head how?" Shikamaru questioned.

"Well, the next test flight of the Tobichachimaru is coming up in a couple weeks. Maybe I can use that as an excuse to take the family on a vacation? I know Hanami will be pretty excited to take a trip on Inari's new flying machine."

The blonde's adviser was able to put it all together. 'I see. He's not just doing this to relax, he's trying to keep his family together...I guess I can't blame him. The fool's been working so damn hard this year that he needs an excuse to get his head clear.'

"Last call for Konoha!" The conductor yelled out again. "The train leave in just a few minutes! This is your last call before departure!"

"Crap!" Temari cursed as she grabbed her bags. "Sorry bros, but we've got to get moving!"

"Ditto!" Shikamaru agreed as he grabbed his own luggage.

Naruto did the same. "Yeah! Thanks again for everything Gaara. We'll get together for another drink sometime."

As the three Leaf ninja hastily carried their luggage with them onto the train, the Kazekage and his brother stood there and watch as three of their closest friends and ally—and family—were about to depart back to their home in the Land of Fire.

'Fare well friends,' the auburn-haired sand master said to himself.

"Come on!" Temari began to panic. "We've got to get through this crowd or we'll miss our train!"

"Relax Temari, Naruto told her. "We'll make it fine. Besides, what else could possibly happen to distract us now—?"

 _RING! RING!_

It was literally at that precise moment that Naruto cell phone went off! The others all stopped to look in annoyance at their Hokage for tempting forth the gods of irony.

"Ugh!" Naruto groaned as he got his phone out. "Let's just keep moving guys, I'll talk while we're on the go."

As they made their way through the dense crowd, Naruto checked his phone to see who was calling him at this very unfortunate time. He was expecting it to maybe be Sakura, or Sasuke, or Shizune, of Sage help it, one of the Elders trying to reach him. The name he saw instead was one of the last that he was expecting.

'Shinachiku? What does he want?' Naruto answered his phone. "Hello? ...Oh hey Shina, how's it going son? How's the Land of Iron? ...Oh, and how's your team? ...Really? That's wonderful!"

"What's going on Naruto?" Shikamaru asked. "Who's calling?"

Naruto covered the phone with his hand as he answered. "It's Shina! He says he and and team finally found another chakra gem!"

"No way!" Tamari gasped as she and her husband couldn't help but stop to take that amazingly good news in.

"That's the best damn news I've heard in two days!" Shikamaru remarked.

Naruto spoke on the phone again. "Son, I can't begin to tell you how proud I am of you! Thanks to you and your team, we're all one step closer to stopping Taka once and for all! But listen, you dad and a couple of our friends really need to catch a train now, so we'll talk more about this lat—"

Naruto's sentence was cut off by his son's voice on the other line. Neither Shikamaru nor Temari could make out what it was, but whatever their leader was hearing, it clearly had his full attention and had him simultaneously very confused and very shocked.

"W-What was that? ... _Boruto_ Uzumaki? No son, I don't know anybody by that name. Listen, I promise we'll talk later, but right now—"

The blonde was cut off again. And this time, whatever his son was saying to him was shocking enough to completely make him forget about how much of a rush he was in and to literally turn his skin white.

"Naruto, what's the matter?" Shikamaru questioned.

The Hokage swallowed his remaining composure and he dared to ask his next question: "He...He said he was _who's_ son again?!"

...

* * *

Shinachiku listened to his father on the other line. "Okay dad, got it. See you then. Bye." The blonde hung up the phone as he sat back down in front of his new prisoner.

"You just talked to my dad?" Boruto asked.

"No, I just got off the phone with _my_ dad."

"And?"

"He thinks you're insane kid."

The younger blonde rolled his eyes and mumbled to himself. I'm sure he does, that lousy deadbeat."

Shina folded his arms. "My dad says he's going to change his plans and come all the way out here instead of going back home from Suna. My mom's no doubt going to be pretty upset about that, so you'd damn well better not be pranking us kiddo, or else you're going to be in big trouble when he gets here, you understand me?"

Bolt grumbled to himself in irritation. "Yeah, yeah, I got ya."

A full minute passed. Not one of them said anything to the other. It was the longest, tensest, most awkward silence one could ever imagine.

Finally, Bolt was the one of them who finally snapped. "AAAHH! This is stupid! What, are you just going to sit there and stare at me all day?!"

Shinachiku continued doing his best to stay as sane and rational as he could. "We don't have to stay quiet like this. Tell you what, how about we talk? It will give us an opportunity to get to know each other a lot better, maybe figure a couple things out."

Boruto got angry. "You wanna talk? Okay, then lets talk about when your slut of a mom started cheating on Sarada's dad and started fucking mine!"

Shinachiku's immediate reaction was to get up out of his chair and punch the boy right in the face! "You say that about my mom again and you won't live long enough until the Hogake gets here, you little prick!"

Boruto didn't answer verbally, just glared at the boy holding him prisoner.

"I-I'm sorry," Shinachiku apologized. "I shouldn't have done that, I just, well...I get a little sensitive when people go after my family, that's all."

Bolt was silent for about three seconds before he spoke again. "Why do you care about him so much?"

"Who?"

"Your dad?"

Shina looked at the boy like he was nuts. "Why do I...? You just answered your own question kid! I care about him _because_ he's my dad."

"So?!"

"So what?"

"So what?! So if you and I really have the same dad, the you of all people should know how much of a jerk he is!"

"Excuse me?"

"Oh don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. That man cares more about being Hokage then he does about us!"

Shina looked at his captive with eyes as wide as saucers. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I don't!"

"No, you **don't**! My dad is the nicest, most selfless man in the world! He **always** puts his family first before his job!"

"No he doesn't!"

"Yes he does! In fact, when my sister was born, he made a shadow to fill in for him during a freaking **Kage Summit** meeting just so he could be there with my mom!"

"Bullshit! That guy cares about his job and only his job!"

"Prove it!"

"Fine! You said you have a sister, me too! In fact, she had a birthday just a couple days ago, and guess what? Dad sent a shadow clone to her party while he stayed in his stupid office all day!"

"Liar! That's the exact opposite of what dad would do!"

"Wrong! What you're telling me, **that's** the opposite of what dad would do!"

"...Y-You're lying..."

"Am I? You tell me pal. Has your dad never once stayed home late from work, never one decided that sitting at that desk and filling out paperwork all day was more important than being with the rest of his family?"

Shina was about to open his mouth to shout back again...but he promptly shut his lip again. He started thinking back to how thing have been going this last year. His father has been staying late at the office an awful lot lately...Most nights in fact. Yes, they all knew why: tracking down Taka, organizing the Shinobi Union, investigating leads on the remaining chakra gems, the Sandosupai trial... All of it was taking away more and more of Naruto's time and, by contrast, making the boy's mother seem more and more lonely... Of course, that was only any time he got to see her himself; his own responsibilities as captain of the Chakra Gem Recovery Squad were keeping him outside of the village much of the time and away for my mom, Hanami, his grandparents, even his still yet-to-be-born baby brother or sister...

It hadn't occurred to him before, but maybe all of this was finally becoming too much? Maybe the Uzumaki family was on the verge of falling apart? Maybe...maybe he and this Boruto kid were more alike then he realized...?

"Hey!" Boruto shouted, snapping the older blonde out of his train of thought.

"W-What? What'd you say?"

"I asked you if your dad ever stayed home from—?"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard that."

"Well?"

"...No. No, my dad isn't like that at all."

Bolt studied the mysterious older blonde, not sure if he should believe him. He wanted to press on even more, but frankly, he had way more questions that needed answering too.

"So...?"

Bolt heard the other blonde speak. "Yeah? What?"

"You said you've got a sister?"

"Hey pal! Its bad enough I saw you kissing my teammate! You'd better not get any ideas or I'll—!"

"Gomen, gomen!" I didn't mean it like that! I just...well, I kind of have a little sister too."

Hearing that actually succeeded in getting Bolt to calm down...at least for the moment. "Oh yeah, I remember you mentioning her earlier."

"Yeah...She's actually about five years younger than me. She's sweet, always smiling, and I've got to admit, she kind of looks up to me."

Boruto listened to what the older blonde was saying, and the more he talked, the more and more familiar it felt. "My...My sister's a lot like that too."

"You mean she loves you?"

"Yeah." Boruto blushed slightly. "I guess...I guess I got ticked off that my dad missed her party because I'm kind of a little protective of her."

Shinachiku blushed himself. "I guess that's something we both have in common." The blush faded. "Hey, if you don't mind me asking, what's her name?"

Bolt hesitated for only a moment, but he could tell from the kid's voice that he was actually being genuine right now. "Her name's Himawari."

Shina smiled. "That's a very pretty name."

"What about you? What's your sister's name?"

"Hanami."

"...It nice."

For some bizarre, inexplicable reason, these two strangers, two boys from different worlds who were both at each other's throats just a moment ago, had found a way to break the ice and let their guard down. Both of them were smiling, a common ground found between them.

...But the smile didn't last. It was as if both of them realized at the same time that this shouldn't be. They shouldn't get distracted in any way. Bolt was still a prisoner in a strange world he didn't know. Shina was still the leader of an important Chūnin squad interrogating a possible spy, lunatic, visitor from another world, Sage only knew what!

"Hey?" Shina spoke.

"Yeah?"

"You know that this isn't personal, but...I need to know the last thing you remember before we found you in that cave."

Bolt sighed, figuring that there was no way out of this mess. "Fine. But before I talk, there's something I have to know."

"What's that?"

"On your team, those two twins with the pale eyes...aren't they...?"

Shina caught on to what the boy was getting at. "Yeah, those and Ōkami and Tsuki, friends of mine. They have the Byakugan because they're Hinata Hyūga's kids."

"Then...who's their dad?"

"Kiba Inuzuka."

" _The dog guy?!_ I thought he was dating Tamaki?!"

" _The cat girl?!_ No way dude!"

Both boys sweat dropped, but Bolt did so even more, for obvious reasons. 'Oh Sage, this is getting _way_ to weird...'

* * *

Naruto was sitting on his train, staring out the window as the trees passed by. He was alone, both Shikamaru and Temari were on their way back to Konoha. He, however, had to excuse himself from their company and stay behind to quickly buy a ticket for the next train to the Land of Iron. It was sudden and awkward, but when they asked what the problem was, all he could do to explain himself was that he needed to see his son at CGRS Headquarters because "Something suddenly came up."

'Yeah, sure, like Shikamaru really bought such a pathetic lie like that.' ...Still, if Naruto's friend and adviser suspected anything more to this sudden turn of events, then he said nothing about it out loud. Although, Naruto did notice the Nara shaking his head in what appeared to be disappointment.

'I suppose he's right, as usual...' Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. Opening it, he pulled out a picture he kept folded up inside of his pocket of his family—himself, Sakura, Shinachiku, and Hanami. The four of them were all happy, smiling... It was taken back during the good old days, the days of peace. Back when there was no Taka, no chakra gems, no Shinobi Union, no war...There was just their love for one another, and that was more than enough.

Touching the photo, his fingers landed on the face of the love of his life. She was so young and happy back then, they both were... And now where were they? He was leaving her home alone almost every night for the last year. For Sage's sake, they had a baby on the way, and how that ended up happening was nothing short of miracle!

He promised that after the trial things would change, that he would take a break, take some time to remind himself what was really important...And now here he was, breaking that promise all over again. He had to find out about this kid that Shinachiku told him about. He needed to get to the bottom of this mess. And most important, he had to make sure that Sakura never found out. Whatever, or however, the kid's claims are what he says, if she were ever to learn any of this, he knew it would destroy her.

"I'm sorry Sakura." He spoke out loud as he kept looking on at the picture. He just as quickly however put his head in his hand as the trees kept on passing by in the window's reflection. 'Why, why does it have to be this way...?'

* * *

 _Starry nights and sunny days  
I always thought that love should be that way  
But then comes a time when you're ridden with doubt  
You've loved all you can and now you're all loved out  
Oh Oh Baby we've been a long long way  
And who's to say where we'll be tomorrow  
Well my heart says no but my mind says it's so  
That we got a love that isn't a love to stay_

 _We've got a wham, bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
_

 _Lookin' at you I wanted to say  
I think a little emotion goes a long long way  
But careful now don't get caught in your dreams  
Look out baby this is not what it seems  
Oh Oh Baby you've been so good to me  
But please Don't make it what it's not  
Well I thought we agreed on what we need  
So listen to me I'll tell you what we've got  
_

 _We've got a wham, bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing_

 _I think you're seein' what I've been sayin'  
'Cause I hear you singin' to the tune I'm playin'  
And now that it's said and we both understand  
Let's say our goodbye's before it gets out of hand so  
Bye Bye Baby I'd really like to stay  
But we'll remember the best time in our life_

 _We had a wham, bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing_

 _Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing_

There were applause from the patrons at _The Azure Dragon_ nightclub. The house band were the best to be found in the entire Land of Water, the manager liked to make sure of that.

Hanzai Harada was sitting at his private booth on the high rise overlooking the dining room floor and performance stage. Applauding with him were both of his sons, Seiichi was looking well dressed and intimidating, and Jiro, while looking fancy, was in less fitting condition due to one of his hands being wrapped in bandages, a fate that did not befall him until after his father got home after their little incident in his office earlier today.

They weren't the only ones listening to the song though. At the bar was none other than Hideaki, taking a sip from a glass of sake.

"Can I get you another one Hideaki-san?" the bartender asked.

"Hai, just one more, thanks."

"Put it on my tab Jou."

Hideaki turned his head at the sound of that voice and smiled. There she was, his sister, his other, his secret lover. She had her hair tied up in a bun with two long pins holding it in place. She wore a pearl necklace with a purple jewel around her neck, some gold earrings hanging from her ears, and matching gold bracelets on her wrists. Her dress was made of dark violet silk with a split down the side for her to pop her leg out. On her feet were a pair of expensive high heel shoes.

Hideaki could feel himself getting flustered as she came over to take a seat next to him, but kept his composure to not make anything appear suspicious.

"Ah, Lady Katsumi!" the bartender exclaimed excitedly. "You are looking absolutely stunning this evening."

"Thank you Jou," she faked flattery. "I'll have what my brother's having."

"Domo milady. I will have both of your drinks ready for you right away." He signaled for his coworker for the night to pay attention as he had his back faced away form him. "Hey new guy! Heads up, the boss's niece and nephew are here and they both want sake!"

"Sure thing boss," the new guy said.

"Hey," the bartender said, "what happened to Kensuke again?"

"He said he had the flu. Asked me to fill in for the night."

"Right...well just make sure to make it fast."

"Hai." The assistant bartender kept his back turned as he prepared the drinks. It was a tall, dark skinned man with short, spiky auburn hair and mustache, pale blue-green eyes with tanuki-like black eye rings. Beneath his black apron, he was wearing a simple blue dress shirt.

"Hey," Hideaki said to his sister. "You hear the song?"

"Yeah, it was an... _interesting_ choice to say the least."

"It kind of reminded me of us."

This got the woman curious. "What do you mean?"

He paused before speaking. "Everything's going to be different after tonight. If anything goes wrong, if they find out about us and things don't fall into place...it could be the end of both of us."

Katsumi chuckled. "Oh my Hideaki, I told you to calm your fears. This plan will work, you and I won't have to hide anymore, and once its done that freak Sugure won't be an issue either."

Hideaki calmed down. "How do you always know how to relax me?"

She smirked evilly, "Just a part of my devilish charms."

"Gomen folks," the bartender said, "the new guy was taking his sweet ass time getting them ready. But here you go!"

Jou served their drinks to the two secret, incestuous lovers who were actually bold enough to make a private toast to each other.

"To us," Hideaki saluted.

"To us," she saluted back, "the future of the Harada family.

Over at another table on the ground floor, an older man could see the two young people at the bar. He smiled, totally unaware of what was truly going on, and being too far away to hear anything they were discussing.

"Excuse me Lord Shingen," the waiter came by and said, "your meal is here." The waiter was a very young man with short, tufty blue hair, dark pupiless eyes, and pointed, shark-like teeth similar to the fabled Swordmen of the Mist. Underneath his tuxedo, he was wearing a simple yellow dress shirt.

"Ah! Thank you son." The man looked at his meal as it was placed in front of him: filet mignon with fresh salad, potatoes au gratin, angel haired pasta, and a side of caviar.

"Mmm! Exquisite!" the man proclaimed.

"Enjoy your meal my lord," the waiter bowed. He then left the man to his food in peace.

As the man was eating his meal, another gentleman came by and stopped in front of his table. "Excuse me sir, but are you by any chance Lord Shingen Harada, brother of Lord Hanzai Harada?"

The old man looked up from the dinner that he was already eating to see the person who was addressing him. It was a man with very fair skin and dark brown hair tied in a ponytail. His eyes were of a large white shade with a slight tint of lavender to them. He was dress in a dressed in a black tuxedo with a matching black dress shirt underneath.

"Can I help you?"

"Actually my lord," the man began, "I believe I can help you. My name is Goushi, may I please sit down?"

"Alright, but this had better be important, I'm in the middle of dinner."

"I understand sir." The man in black turned back to the bar. "Those your children over there?"

"Indeed." Shingen acknowledged. "The best heirs a father can ask for. And they're quite close to each other too."

'You have no idea old man,' the stranger thought to himself.

"So what is it you wanted to discuss with me sir?" Shingen questioned.

"Well, it isn't a discussion so much as a presentation." He paused as he pulled a stack of photos from his jacket. "Lord Shingen, I am terribly sorry but you may not like what you are about to see..."

Up on the high rise, a missing nin shinobi was standing guard over Lord Hanzai and his sons. He did not say a word; his job was to stand silent watch. He was not to talk to Lord Hanzai, nor they to him, they would not even look in his direction. If he did his job correctly, the crime lord would comfortably forget that he was even there.

That level of anonymity and commitment to duty might have been the reason why he did not notice. He did not notice yet another presence appear near him until he heard her voice. "Hello there soldier."

The guard turned to see a woman was speaking to him, a beautiful woman with a stylish and cute demeanor. The woman had fair skin and white eyes with just a tinge of lavender, and long, pale blonde hair with a curious but intoxicating single streak of pink running through it. All of these feature served to distract the guard from her rather large forehead, but even that was only the most minor of flaws, in fact, it was hardly a flaw at all. She was dressed in silver jewelry on her neck and wrists and wore an elegant and sexy pink dress.

"I'm sorry miss," the guard said, "but this is a private booth. I have to ask you to leave please."

"Aw," the woman said, "but you wouldn't ask that of little old me, would you?" She pouted cutely, and the charm was clearly starting to work on the man, as serious as he was trying to be.

"I insist ma'am, please leave or I will have to—"

"You're no fun, but alright. Just give me a second to check something."

The woman pretended to look at her high heel shoe, and as she did so she allowed her long leg to slip out of her dress, and she was also bending over at such an angle as to give the guard very generous view of her above average cleavage.

"Mmmm..." the guard couldn't help but hum to himself in perversion.

That was the moment she was waiting for. When he let his guard down, she rapidly pulled a blade out of her bracelet and flicked it upwards into his throat. But the guard was not able to scream because she just as quickly, with speed that defied most human ninja, covered his mouth and nose with her hands so he could not scream, speak or breath. Within seconds, the guard had passed out from lack of air and collapsed. The woman's unnatural strength prevented him from falling to the floor with a thud. She carried him to the side to rest, where he would most likely die of blood loss before he had the chance to regain consciousness.

And the best part, true to form, the Harada's had failed to notice a single bit of it.

Three grown men then walked passed her, nodding to her for doing her job. The waiter in the yellow shirt had made his way up top also, having finished delivering food to the family about fifteen minutes earlier, and now having gotten a drink from the assistant bartender in the blue shirt.

"Be careful," the waiter said.

All three of them walked passed and approached the booth that the manager and his sons were sitting in.

"Harada-sama."

Old Man Hanzai turned his head to see that, indeed, the man he had been waiting to speak to all night had made it on schedule. "Ah, Sugure-san. I am honored that you could make it."

He bowed. "The honor is mine."

Sugure had black hair with blonde tips, blue eyes with onyx pupils, and overall appeared very handsome despite the whisker markings on each of his cheeks that served to remind one of a certain orange-clad Hokage. He was wearing a pure white tuxedo with a white shirt underneath, and a black colored handkerchief sticking out of his pocket.

At his side were two other men, one standing on each of his sides. They were brothers, twins in fact, both having silver hair, black eyes, and narrow jaw-lines that overall made them look very handsome. They both wore black tuxedos with different colors dress shirts underneath, one wearing red, the other wearing green. The only other way to tell the two men apart was that the brother in the green shirt had a vertical scar running down his right eye.

Also both of the brothers were carrying two rather large suitcases in each of their hands.

"Thank you again for seeing us this evening Hanzai-sama," Sugure said as he sat down. "Your club is extraordinary. _The Azure Dragon_ , named after the legend of Seiryū, one of the four guardian beasts that legend says roams the eastern region of the world known as the Land of Water."

"You do seem to have quite an interest in mythology, Mister Mashita," Hanzai noted.

"We all have our hobbies. A collector of your reputation can certainly understand that."

"And you certainly do have excellent manners."

"What can I say," Sugure said in modesty, "manners are a sign that we are a civilized people."

"Yes, but still..." Hanzai waved his had to signal for Seiichi to stand up and check each of their pockets, and found that they were both clean. With a nod from his father, he sat back down again.

"So," Hanzai said, "I have brought the payment?"

"You know I did," Sugure answered. "The question is, did _you_ bring the weapon?"

"You dare speak to my father that way!" Seiichi stood back up in fury.

"Sit down!" Hanzai commanded, to which the eldest son obliged.

"I apologize for any offense, Hanzai-sama," Sugure said in earnest.

"No apology necessary, we all have our...aggressive sides."

Sugure noticed that the 'legitimate businessman' had turned his attention to the scar on the face of one his left-hand man. "Oh well, sometimes you do need to make an example when they make a false step out of line, or to teach them a lesson if they should make a mistake...I think we both understand that Sugure-sama."

The man in white's eyes turned to the younger Harada son who had been quiet this whole time. Jiro coward is shame as he tried to hide his bandaged hand. His father merely decided to ignore it.

"Aren't you going to introduce us uncle?"

The family head turned to see both his nephew and niece approaching them. "This is my niece Katsumi, and my nephew Hideaki. Children, this is Sugure Mashita."

"A pleasure ma'am, sir," Sugure said, pretending that they had never met before.

"Charmed," Katsumi said for the both of them as she and her brother sat at the table.

"So then Sugure," Hanzai said, 'how about we get down to business and you turn over the money now?"

Seiichi pulled a _very_ nasty looking kunai from his pocket, clearly intended as a threat to their guest should they try any funny business.

Sugure, however, was not the least bit perturbed. "Put it away son, there's no need for weapons here."

"We will see," Hanzai stated plainly. "The payment."

'First," the man in white insisted, "you show me the weapon."

"Or else?"

"Or..." Sugure looked behind him at the now empty stage and then turned back. "...I would hate to ruin such a quality establishment with a wham bam shang-a-lang."

As awkward as that metaphor was, it was enough for Hanzai to get the picture. He signaled for Seiichi to get the merchandise. As he left, Sugure and Katsumi traded glances at one another, which the old man failed to notice, but the youngest son did.

When Seiichi came back, he had a long object in his hands covered in cloth. Unwrapping it, it revealed the weapon that Sugure sought.

It was a sword. A long, ancient sword with both edges still sharp. The hilt of the blade was what caught the most attention however. It was plated in gold and silver ivory, and the hilt had a series of seven holes in it. These holes were meant to hold some kind of jewel decoration, but not just any jewels however...

Sugure took the sword and looked upon it. "The fabled Sword of Ōtsutsuki. The blade that held the seven chakra gems. The only thing that can hold all seven relics at once without destroying a man, and even then, only if they have the seventh gem."

"An amazing piece to be sure," Hanzai acknowledged. "I have had it vindicated by experts in every sub field of archaeology and mythological study. That _is_ the sword."

"No doubt Taka would pay a pretty hefty price if they also learned you had it."

"Which is why you should consider yourself lucky that I am making you this offer first."

"Yes, quite lucky..."

The polite smile that was on Sugure's face vanished instantly. It was replaced with a face of anger and disgust, as he took the ancient sword he held in his hands and broke the blade as if it were tin foil, slamming it on the table!

"The real blade would not break so easily, even with my strength!" Sugure stated. "Now, will you honor our deal and give me what I want?"

"No..." Hanzai snapped his fingers. "...I won't."

At least ten more guards, all of whom were heavily armed, appeared at their master's call and drew their weapons. Within moments they had their blades pinned on Sugure and both of his men.

All the while, Katsumi and Hideaki stayed where they were, just waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Now," Hanzai stated, "you will give me the money."

Faking like he had no choice, Sugure agreed to the deal. "My pleasure."

Signaling to the two brothers, Geki and Burai both handed over the four suitcases. Setting them in front of the family, Seiichi opened all of them to find them full of unmarked ryo.

"Sixty-eight billion ryo, as promised," Sugure swore.

Smiling, Hanzai waved his hand, telling his men to back off from their hostages, which they did.

"See Sugure," the old man continued, "you don't get to become as powerful as I am without thinking things through. I _always_ win. I get my money, and you _don't_ get one of my most valued pieces from my collection."

The old man and his eldest son laughed hysterically, as did their hit men. Jiro, however, kept to himself out of disgust. Katsumi and Hideaki didn't say anything either, just smiling at the man in white.

Sugure calmly picked up a glass. "A toast then?"

Seeing no harm, Hanzai and Seiichi agreed to follow suit. Jiro just sat there calmly, as did the two siblings in the know.

"To your good health." He took a drink along with the other two...But when they sat their glasses down, Hanzai started giggling. "What's funny?"

"Forgive me Sugure-san, but you see, I also got where I am by never leaving loose ends."

"So?"

"So that's why I ordered my men to poison your drink."

Now the old man and his eldest son were laughing like maniacs. Soon the man in white would be dead, and the rest of his allies with him!

"Father!" Jiro jumped up and protested. "How could you—AGH!"

Jiro's own father slapped him across the face, right there in front of everyone. "SIT DOWN FOOL!"

Jiro angrily did as he was told, not noticing the pitying look that Hideaki was sending him. But it was then that Sugure himself started laughing.

"What is your problem fool!" Seiichi shouted. "You think its funny that you're about to die?!"

"No, no, you see, the thing you don't know is that, when we were created, we were made to be perfect life forms. Which means..." The man in white flashed a delightfully evil grin. "Poisons a useless against me."

The old man and his sons were clearly shocked. Seiichi spoke for the three of them. "You...You lie!"

"No, I'm being totally serious. My people and I have a built in immunity to all forms of poisons and disease. But you folks certainly don't, which is why I had my team poison all of the food you ate tonight."

Horrified, it was conveniently around then that the side effects of said poisoned food began to take effect. The old man and his eldest son started violently convulsing and grabbing their throats in agony.

"Father! Seiichi!"

"Don't worry Jiro, you'll be joining them soon enough."

Jiro was horrified to see that it was none other than his own cousin, Katsumi, that had just spoken that! She was smiling that demon, someone pure evil.

"You...You planned this...?"

She just kept smiling. "That's right cousin. With dear uncle and you two out of the way, our father is the head of the family now, and we the new next in line!"

The family hit men immediately made a move to attack them...only to find that their chakra wasn't responding to their commands! None of their jutsu were working for them at all!

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention," Sugure chimed in. "You boys been hearing those news stories about how people have gotten a hold of Taka's chakra serum and spiking it in drugs? Well, we killed some of those guys and slipped it into all of your drinks tonight. You're chakra is useless now."

The men were horrified at this, but that horror quickly turned to blind fury as they charged at the man in white all as one.

"LIGHTNING CUTTER!"

"LIGHTNING CUTTER!"

Both Geki and Burai had finally made a move and used their shared technique to slice and electrocute ever single one of them!

"SHADOW POSSESSION JUTSU! EIGHT TRIGRAM VACUUM PALM!"

Goushi got into the fight himself, activating his Byakugan for one of the Hyūga clan's most powerful taijutsu techniques while he had the enemy still trapped in his shadow possession.

"SAND STORM! STORM RELEASE: LASER CIRCUS!"

Dan appeared next to summon his sand, entrapping several of Hanzai's now helpless men as he then released an utter onslaught of energy beams out of his hand, electrocuting all of them and killing them.

"LAVA STYLE: ASH STONE SEAL TECHNIQUE!"

Boi shot a thick as from his mouth that wrapped around his targets.

"WATER STYLE: WATER TRUMPET!"

He then shot water out of his mouth in a manner that resembled a trumpet, which combined with his first attack to in turn solidify the ground and trap his enemies before he walked over to them and easily ripped their heads off!

"MIND DESTRUCTION JUTSU!"

Mei used the Yamanaka clan's deadly mental paralysis jutsu to wreck her opponent's minds until they were mush. Then with a mighty "SHANNARO!" she started punching heads off of bodies with just her fist!

Patrons in the club were fleeing for their lives and they screamed in horror at the massacre that was occurring. The evening was so calm and unassuming,, business as usual, and then, out of nowhere. Wham! Bam! Noise and death came at them like an explosion! Total chaos of the worst possible kind!

 _We've got a wham, bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
_

 _We've got a wham, bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
_

Soon, all that were left alive in the entire club where Sugure and his team, and Katsumi, Hideaki, and Jiro, the last remaining members of the Harada crime family. Of course, Jiro was utterly terrified for his life after witnessing the massacre that this man in white had just wrought upon them all.

"Jiro," Hideaki said, getting his cousin's attention. "I'm going to give you one chance. Either join us, or leave and never come back, or die."

Looking back and forth, his fear never wavered, but another emotion had found it's way into his heart...hate. There was absolutely nothing he could do now, that was clear...But maybe one day...?

And so he ran, down the stairs and out the door of the club.

"Why did you let him go Hideaki?" Katsumi protested. "As long as he lives there is still another air to the family ahead of us!"

"It was just a well to let him go," Sugure reasoned. "I don't suspect we'll be seeing any more of that one for a long time."

Katsumi huffed triumphantly. "I suppose not. Either way, with uncle gone the empire now belongs to my father..." She sneered at her partner in white. "...Which means our business is concluded."

She grabbed a kunai she had been stashing in her thigh holster beneath her dress and flung it straight at Sugure's head! ...Which he promptly grabbed straight out of the air and then crumbled up between his hands like it were tin foil!

"I do believe our business is concluded miss," he said, "but I'm afraid there has been a slight shift in your master plan."

He turned his head towards the dining room floor, where both of the siblings could see the utterly horrific sight of their father lying face up on a table, his form clearly in the same state of agony that they had put their uncle through in his final moments.

There was no denying it. Their father was dead.

"D-Daddy..." Katsumi could feel tears forming in her eyes.

"I had Boi poison his food just as he did your uncle's. And their was something else too. Do you want to guess what was the very last thing your father saw before he took his last breath?"

Both of them were mortified! They knew instantly what he was insinuating!

"You bastard!" Hideaki cursed.

"We had a deal!" Katsumi reported. "You gave me the photos!"

"I did keep my word. I did give you the photos to do with as you pleased...But I never said I didn't have copies, now did I?"

"You said you wouldn't tell him!"

"I never said any such thing out loud. All I agreed to was that I would help in your coup to get rid of your father. I never said I _wouldn't_ get rid of your father too. Besides, the old man at least deserved to know the real truth about his own children before he met his end. That's the thing you need to know about me, I'm _very_ particular about the deals I make."

"You...You **monster!** "

She was totally outclassed, but she did not care! She was not about to see everything, **everything** she had worked for be ruined by this super powered freak! She lunged at him, her fist drawn...

...But he easily caught said fist. Katsumi struggled to break free of his grip, but then he easily crushed the bones in her hand. "AAAAAHHHH!"

She fell to the floor in pain, so he then slammed his foot on her leg, breaking his bones and forcing her to scream even louder!

"KATSUMI!"

Hideaki lunged at Sugure with even more fury than his sister had shown, but the man in white was quick to grab him by the throat and then land a powerful blow to his stomach. He could feel all of his ribs crack and the heart felt like it was rupturing!

Both siblings fell to the ground in defeat, neither one fit to move.

Sugure signaled for all of his team to gather around him. "We're done here. We're heading to Harada's mansion. Tear the place apart until you find the real sword."

"Hai master," Geki aid for the six of them.

As his team started descending the stairs for the exit, Sugure turned one last time to the dying lovers. "Farewell you two, enjoy your future together...for the precious few seconds it lasts. Give my regards to your family when you both join them in Hell."

The two of them could do nothing but stare in horror as he coldly turned his back on them and walked down the stairs to the bottom floor, then headed out the exit.

"Do it," he ordered Goushi.

The man in black set off a trigger and a series of paper bombs he had planted along the outside and inside of the club went off one by one in a series of fiery explosions.

As the inferno crept closer and closer to them, one burst of fire after another, Katsumi and Hideaki could do nothing, nothing at all, except take solace in each other's arms as they came together. Tears of fear in their eyes, at least they knew that if this needed to be their end, then at least they could meet their end together.

And thus as the last fiery explosion engulfed them, the of them embraced in a final, incestuous kiss...

 _We had a wham, bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing  
Wham bam shang-a-lang  
And a sha-la-la-la-la-la thing_

* * *

Whew! Oh boy that was a long one! I hope you all enjoyed it, and now have, hopefully, a better idea of where I might be going with this story...That being said, count on their still being a lot of big twists and turns coming in the future, including a setup for another big development that i originally had in mind for the end of this chapter but chose to hold off because it didn't fit in tonally and, lets face it, this one was long enough as it was.

In terms of our main characters, one of the main purposes of this chapter was to call out the differences between both the canon Narutoverse post to finale, and this SFA continuity I have created. But more importantly, I wanted to call out how eerily similar Shinachiku's universe is becoming to Boruto's, especially in regards to Naruto's behavior in the year that's past since the end of SFA.

Recently, I received a review from one of my most loyal reviewers, sansadoll, telling me that he was not fully clicking with the story so far because he (or she) felt that Naruto was out of character and things were shaping up to be too much like Boruto's universe. Well, with all due respect to sansodoll, or anyone that has been having similar feelings to the story so far, but that was always the point. The last year since Taka's infiltration has seriously challenged Naruto's perspective and caused him to make decisions he normally wouldn't have made in the name of defeating this new and very different kind of enemy. It is only now that he is starting to wake up and realize what he is turning into and what it is doing to his family. The arrival of Boruto, and the learning or what kind of a husband and father he is that that other world, might serve as a giant wake up call for Naruto of what he could become if he doesn't do something to fix it.

And that brings me to what I am trying to do with this crossover...tell an actual story! Sure, I could easily just tell a story about Shina one upping Bolt left and right, and yes, a part of me would enjoy doing that, but that would just be a fanboy bitch bash for who knows how many chapters and not a real story. A story requires characters to grow, to changer to learn something from each other. Boruto's world is far, far from perfect, but Shinachiku's world isn't flawless either. I wanted to make it clear that differences between these two boys are not as black and white as we like to think they are.

That brings me to the discussion about their sisters. I realized that in both my continuity and Kishimoto's both of them have a younger sister that looks up to them and that they are, to one degree or another, protective of. I quickly caught on that this would be a perfect common ground for them each to see that there is more to them both then they first thought. Who knows, maybe it could be the start of something bigger down the line...?

But okay, as far as the plot goes, the real big thing to talk about in this chapter was the final wrap up of the Harada crime family story line. This scene went on WAY longer than I originally anticipated, because I wanted to show off Sugure's brilliantly evil strategy and give all of his team something to do. Part of Sugure's character is that he is one of those Devil-like villains that always keeps his word when he makes deals, but he ultimately has his own agenda, so he is very sneaky and deceptive in what kind of deal he makes, usually screwing someone over on a technicality.

The scene at _The Azure Dragon_ itself was inspired by the opening of _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ , where Indy makes the deal with crime boss Lao Che that goes horribly wrong for him. Sugure's white tuxedo was even directly based on Indy's own white tuxedo in that scene. I had wanted to do something with that scene in one of my stories for a while and used to think of having Naruto in this situation instead. But as this story took shape it didn't seem to fit with Naruto, so I decided to use it as another chance to really put over my new villain. Of course, as the scene took shape it became something very different than what it was in _Temple of Doom_.

A couple of possible plot elements were established here for you guys to theorize over as the story goes along: the Sword of Ōtsutsuki, Jiro escaping, etc. I actually didn't plan on letting Jiro survive this coup originally, but as I got into the twisted way this mob family works, it seemed too cruel to just cast off the one reputable person in this bloody clan. So I kept him around...for now.

This was, of course, the final punishment of Katsumi for her evil ways, and especially for her incestuous romance with her own brother. And how fitting that she would be so totally outclassed and outsmarted by the very ally she used to seize power from her uncle in the first place. Plus, knowing their father learned the truth about them immediately before dying...that's cold!

The last thing I feel I should discuss is the song. "Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang" is a pretty obscure song by the band Silver, their only hit. It was featured as one of the many great tracks from Awesome Mix Vol. 2, the soundtrack to "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." The song plays during the scene where Kraglin sees the fleet of Sovereign ships arriving at Ego's planet to destroy the Guardians.

I think that might be one of the most interpretive and unusual song choices I've ever made for my stories. Yes, this song is very catchy, but I picked it because that catchiness was in direct contrast to what was really going on. The real point of the song is in the lyrics. If you pay attention to the words, they can interpreted on three different levels: as a commentary of what is currently going wrong in Naruto and Sakura's relationship, a description of how Shina and Bolt may be feeling in this chapter, a warning against Katsumi and Hideaki's relationship, or all three at once. Also, come on, its kind of great to have song with the words "Wham Bam Shang-a-Lang" in it as things are literally blowing up!

I think I've said as much as there is to say for this one. I thank all of you for reading, and I look forward to seeing you back for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	7. Chapter 7--Two Worlds, One Father

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi back with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure."

This one ended up a lot shorter than the previous chapter was because, honestly, I didn't have as much ground to cover as I did last time. Although by the end, there will be some set up for a major twists we'll be getting into in the near future, so be ready for that.

So, with all that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Two Worlds, One Father**

The train station of Konohagakure was bustling with dozens of people all either waiting for their trains to arrive or for their families and friends to disembark. Within the crowd were four people in particular. One was a thirty-six year old woman with short pink hair, a red dress and a violet diamond seal christened on her broad forehead. Beside her was a man her same age with moppy black hair and wearing a pair of blue pants and a black, long sleeve shirt with a green flak jacket over it. Standing close to him was another woman, one in a violet shirt and black pants and whom wore glasses, but her most distinctive trait was the state of her red hair, which was short and spiky on the right side, while longer and straight on the left side. The final person in the company, whom was standing very close to the pink haired lady, was a eight year old girl with equally pink hair in ponytails and blue eyes like her father's, she wore a light green shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back with a pair of khaki shorts.

"Mommy," the little girl asked, "is daddy's train coming in soon?"

"Yes Hanami sweetie," the girls mother assured her. "Daddy should be coming in any time now."

"You realize of course," the raven-haired man interrupted, "he might be in a bad mood after what happened with the trail—OW! What the big idea Karin?!"

The man's wife elbowed him in the gut. "Don't kill the mood you jerk."

The little girl's mother closed her eyes as she smiled at the scene. "It's okay Sasuke, I know how to handle him when he's like that."

"So do I," Sasuke answered back, his tone a bit more stern than hers.

"Sakura!" Karin pointed outwards to get her attention. "It looks like the train's coming in."

With a screeching hiss of the brakes, the locomotive came to a lat at the station. After a few moments, the doors opened and a the conductor's behest, passengers started filing out of the train and onto the platform, their families and baggage in tow.

The group looked through the crowd for any sign of whom they were waiting for, until, finally, Hanami took notice of a couple of familiar faces and pointed in their direction. "Mommy! Look! It's Shikamaru and Temari!"

The couple worked their way through the crowd once they saw Sakura and Hanami waving their arms in the air to get their attention. The two of them set their luggage down as they greeted their friends.

"Hey you two," Karin greeted them. "How was Suna?"

"It was fine," Temari answered. "Gaara and Kankurō are the same as ever."

Hanami looked around them with very visible confusion and worry. "W-Where's my daddy?"

Neither husband nor wife were comfortable answering the little girl's question, though to be fair, Temari hesitated out of concern for his family's feelings, whereas Shikamaru was reluctant because of how troublesome explaining everything was going to be.

"Umm..." Temari stammered.

"Uhhh..." Shikamaru groaned.

"Shikamaru?" Sakura asked, "where's Naruto?"

"...He's, uh...well..."

"Where is he Shikamaru?" Sakura tried asking more forcefully.

"We'll...he wasn't able to come back with us."

All four of them were shocked to hear that, especially the missing father's wife and daughter. Karin spoke for the lot of them. "What happened?"

"He said something suddenly came up—AH!"

He yelped when a short tempered Sakura literally grabbed him by his shirt and lifted him up in the air, her other fist drawn back in case she needed to punch his teeth in. "I'll ask again. WHERE...IS...NARUTO?!"

Temari found the nerve to step in and speak for them both. "Sakura listen, Naruto told us he needed to attend to some sudden business in the Land of Iron, so he told us both to go back without him."

Sakura calmed down enough to put Shikamaru back down, who straightened out his clothes in annoyance.

"M-My daddy's not coming home?" Hanami asked with a sad face.

"Oh no sweetie," Temari tried to reassure the girl. "your daddy will be home soon enough. He just had to make one more little stop to take care of some business and once he's done he'll be on the next train back home, you'll see."

Sasuke folded his arms. "What kind of business is he on exactly?"

"He wouldn't tell us," Shikamaru stated bluntly.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura questioned with understandable suspicion.

"All he said was that it was an urgent matter that had to deal with the chakra gems, top secret stuff. He changed his plans as soon as he got a call from your son."

"My oniichan?" Hanami asked.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Karin waved her hands in the air to stop this conversation. "Your telling us that _Shinachiku_ asked Naruto not to come home?"

"Yeah."

Sasuke spoke up. "You're Naruto's adviser Shikamaru. Why would he, or Shinachiku, feel the need to keep secrets from you?"

The Nara shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea."

Sakura could feel her daughter tugging on her dress. "Mommy?"

The pinkette quickly kneeled down and brought her daughter into a hug. "Now, now, don't you worry sweetie. Temari's right, daddy's going to be home before you know it."

That was what she said out loud at least. Within her mind, the woman's thoughts were a lot less optimistic. 'Naruto...I don't know what you're getting into, but please come home. You don't understand what this is doing to your family...And Shina, I don't know what's going on, but please don't get yourself into any trouble...'

* * *

"...So, the last thing you remember is your dad—err, _our_ dad—going into his Nine-Tailed Chakra Mode to save the village from _whom_ exactly?"

"How should I know?! They were a couple of freaks with white skin, white robes, and at least one of them hand some weird hole in his hand that he used to absorb my jutsu. Oh, and they had my mom's Byakugan too."

Shinachiku continued questioning in suspicion. "What color was this guy's hair?"

Boruto answered, not knowing where this was going. "Pale-blue I think. Why?"

"Just asking. Did you notice anything else about this person's face?"

"Well, uh...he did have these weird flat, curved horn things on his head. They kind of looked like rabbit ears to me."

"And this hole you say you saw in his hand. Was there anything else you remember about it?"

Bolt was struggling to remember, but it was seriously becoming a blur to him. "Ah! I don't know! Maybe? I think there was some sort of red eye-looking thing in his hand, but I can't remember."

Shina's eyes widened slightly in suspicion. This kid's description was sounding awfully familiar to someone his parents had told him about long ago. A certain princess that they and his Uncle Sasuke all had to defeat together long ago, back during the end of the war.

'No, it couldn't be...'

"Hey kid," Bolt said, "Are you alright?"

"W-Wha?"

"You kind of looked like you were zoning out a bit."

"No, no I'm alright. Listen, lets get back on track again." Shina readjusted himself in his chair before continuing the interrogation. "So, you were saying that dad used Kurama's chakra to protect the village from this person with rabbit ear-like horns on his head, and that was the last thing you saw?"

Bolt suddenly started to feel a bit nervous. "Well, actually...the last thing I remember is dad smiling at me before some white light came over me. The next thing I knew I was in that cave with you people."

Shina just took it all in. "I see...And you can't remember anything else?"

"...No, nothing."

"..."

"Hey?! Are we done yet?!"

"Not quite. You said that you were part of a Genin team made up of you, Sarada, and Mitsuki?"

"Yeah, I told you that already."

"Who was your sensei?"

"Konohamaru Sarutobi."

Shinachiku nearly fell out of his chair in shock. "You've got to be kidding me?!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Konohamaru-sensei was _my_ teacher too!"

"No way!"

"No joke!"

Bolt shifted his eyes around the room nervously. "This...This is just getting _weird!_ "

"No kidding..."

There was about five seconds of silence until Bolt decided to take his turn to start asking some of his own questions. "So...you and Konohamaru-sensei huh?"

"Oh yeah," Shina answered. "He's been training me since I graduated from the Academy."

"Let me guess, you got mixed grades like I did, right?"

"No, no, I pretty much got straight As in almost everything."

Bolt sweat dropped. "What are you, some kind of genius?"

"No, no, just a really good study. I think I get it from my mom. Shino-sensei once told me I was one his brightest students back at the Academy."

"You sound like a huge nerd."

"Hey!"

"Just sayin'...Tell you the truth, some people back home kind of see me as some sort of prodigy too."

Shina understood. "Because your the Seventh Hokage's son and the Fourth Hokage's grandson."

Bolt nodded slightly. "Yeah..."

Shinachiku figured he ought to get back on track again. "So, what exactly were you doing right before this mysterious person attacked the village?"

"I was in the middle of the Chūnin Exams," Boruto explained. "I was in a tournament fight with Shikadai before it all startd."

"Did you win?"

"No," Bolt answered in what seemed to be a sour attitude. "I was about to win, but then my dad disqualified me and stripped me of all rank I had as a ninja."

Shina's was taken by surprise upon hearing that. "Why would dad do that?"

"He was ticked off at me all because I used this new invention made by the Science Ninja Weapons Team."

Shina knew exactly what his otherworldly counterpart was talking about. "You mean the Kote?"

"...Yeah. Dad figured out I was using it during the exams so he disqualified me."

At that, Shinachiku folded his arms and scowled at the boy. "In other words, you cheated."

That accusation got under Boruto's nerves. "Hey! Don't you go judging me! That Kensuke guy talked me into using it just to be his guinea pig! It wasn't my idea!"

"But you still agreed to it, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, like you're so righteous! I bet you did the same damn thing when you took your Chūnin Exam, huh?!"

"Actually, I never had to take the Chūnin Exam. My dad gave me an honorary promotion after I helped save the entire village from the Taka invasion. That's also how I got promoted to captain of this squad."

Bolt felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance. "So you're just some spoiled brat who got where he was all because of dad, huh?!"

"Watch it kid!" Shina protested. "I earned everything I got. Just because I'm rich doesn't meant I'm—"

"Wait," Bolt interrupted in surprise. "You mean you're _rich?_ "

"Well, yeah, sure," Shina confirmed matter-of-factly. "Aren't you?"

"No. My dad may be Hokage but we still don't make that much more money than anyone else in the village."

"You mean your dad never came into his inheritance?"

Bolt's face faulted the implications of that word. "What inheritance?"

"Well, my dad told me that after the war was over and he and my mom started dating, that Kakashi-sensei gave him my grandparents last will and testament. They left him 50,000,000 ryo and the three floor mansion they had built in secret just outside the village gates."

" _M-M-Mansion...?"_

"Sure." Shinachiku seemed confused by Boruto's utterly bewildered reaction. "Doesn't your family live in a mansion too?"

"...Shut up!"

* * *

As squadrons of Mist ninja arrived to investigate the reports of a disturbance at _The Azure Dragon_ , Sugure and his team had quickly made it to the Harada Estate. The superman clad in the white uniform knew that it was only a matter of time before those elite ninja squads decided to double back to the estate, which meant that they needed to work fast before that happened...Not that any one of them could not easily deal with any opposition that came for them, they were measly human specks after all. Still, Sugure's genius mind concluded that avoiding another confrontation at this time would be for the best.

Sugure supervised as his six followers tore apart the house, room by room, searching for any sign of the prize they sought.

"Master!"

Sugure turned his head at the sound of his youngest follower's voice. "Yes Boi?"

"I've found it!"

Not saying another word, Sugure followed the trail of the yellow-clad superman's voice down the hallway. He came to a large room, one filled with beautiful paintings, valuable statuettes under glass, ancient-looking weaponry, and dozens of other rare valuable, many of which seemed to have serious historical value deserving of being maintained within a museum instead of in here, the private collection of a powerful crime lord.

'So this is Old Man Harada's private collection...Impressive I must admit.'

Sugure saw Boi standing in the back of the room. He was pointing above him to something that was hanging near the ceiling. There it was, with it's ancient katana blade still sharp after all these generations, it's hilt plated in gold and silver and ivory, and those seven holes that held the chakra gems of ancient legend. The blade itself was encased inside of an elegant and ancient scabbard, one covered in black leather and overlaid with gold and silver runes resembling the roots of the fabled God Tree and the powerful Shinju fruit that grew from it.

Sugure smirked, already able to tell that this time they got what they came for. "At last, the _real_ Sword of Ōtsutsuki. Well done Boi."

The youngest of the supermen bowed in gratitude. "I live to serve, master."

The leader in white then did a giant leap up the ceiling as easily as a preschooler playing a game of jump rope. Just the barest of kicks, practically a tap from his big toe, had enough strength to rock the walls and shake the weapon loose, as well as all of the other relics the old man hung for display on his wall. Sugure caught the sword in the air and landed back on the ground with all the silence and control of a master ninja, microseconds before the other clatter on the wall fell to the floor with a loud crash and clang. there was nobody else inside the house save for the seven of them, so Sugure paid no mind whatsoever to the noise.

No, his attention was to the legendary weapon that he held within his hand right now. Unsheathing the sword, he held it out and examined it closely. Pressing his hands to the blade, he applied a fair amount of pressure and found that, unlike the replica that the old man had attempted to cheat him with earlier, this blade was much less fragile. Even with his strength, the blade would not give.

"It is written," Sugure recounted allowed, "that Princess Kaguya herself forged this blade from a meteorite the fell to the Earth long ago, before the forming of the Five Great Nations. The metal forged from that meteor is of a composition that defies anything the greatest smiths on this Earth can forge."

"Is that true master?" Boi asked.

Sugure looked around the room and saw another item from the old man's collection. It looked like a tall statue of Hanzai Harada made of solid metal, which he could tell was not just any metal, but titanium.

"Let us find out."

Walking over to the statue, he unsheathed the sword and held it aloft. With all the stealth and lightning swiftness of an elite shinobi, he landed one clean cut through the statue. Seconds later, the old man's head fell clean off and rolled away.

Sheathing the blade once again. Sugure smirked. "It would appear the strength of this weapon are not exaggerated after all. And this is not even the beginning of its true power."

Boi was quick to piece together what his master was referring to. "The chakra gems."

"Indeed." Sugure tied the scabbard around himself as he continued explaining. "Whomever can recover all seven of the chakra gems and fit them into the slots on the scabbard of this blade will have access to all of their powers and be able to hold all of them without destroying themselves. Merely having such a weapon at your side can make you a god."

"No one is more deserving of such divinity than you master," Boi bowed in respect.

"I an already the personification of human perfection. With this..." he touched the scabbard with his hand. "...With this, I can truly be a god."

"And then we can finally remake the world the way it deserves to be. Yes master?"

"Indeed. Now come, we have what we came for. We need to leave before any authorities arrive."

* * *

In the far away Land of Iron, there was a lone figure making his way through the snow. It was cold as hell since, given where he was coming back from before this very unexpected detour came up, he hadn't exactly packed a sweater with him. Still he was a shinobi, probably the most famous shinobi in the world no less, so be damned in he was going to let the cold get the best of him.

The train this figure disembarked from unfortunately was far away and out of sight from the location where he was headed. This meant that he had no choice but to trek the rest of the way through the snow by foot.

'That's it! Before I leave I seriously need to remember to plant a Flying Thunder God kunai in Shina's HQ. No way I'm going through this crap again!'

Naruto walked through the white powder for another couple of miles, before he finally saw a trio of familiar mountains that that protruded from the rock like they were looming over any passers by. The mountains had icicles hanging down from their snowy peaks, giving the mountains the visage of pack of wolf heads.

'Good, I'm finally getting close then.'

About a mile of two from the mountains, Naruto at last saw the unassuming office building out in middle of nowhere. Relieved to finally be at his destination, he made his way over to the building and banged on the front door.

He waited...And waited...And waited...

"Hey!" Naruto shouted as he banged on the door again. "Open the door! It's freezing out here!"

Naruto was very irritated that he had to come all this way just to be stuck standing in the snow! 'Shina! Boy, if this is some kind of prank, so help me I'll—!"

As he was ranting inside his brain, he ended up pushing on the handle causing the door to open.

'...Oh...It was unlocked. Well...okay then...' Naruto had _very_ large sweat drop appear on his head.

Stepping through the door in embarrassment, the Orange Hokage shook the snow off of his clothes and rubbed his chest and arms to warms his body back up. When he got feeling better he looked around to see that there was nobody around, just blank hallways.

"Hello?" He called out down the halls but no one came to see him. "Shina? Son? It's me, dad."

Figuring he was going to need to look around to find anyone to talk to. He proceeded to open a couple of doors to see is anyone was in, before he finally noticed a familiar looking boy with pale skin, white-blue hair and golden eyes.

"Oh, Lord Hokage," the boy quickly bowed in respect. "The captain informed me of your arrival. It is truly an honor to meet your acquaintance once again."

"Good to see you too Mitsuki," Naruto replied back. "But where is the rest of your team?"

"Most of them are in their rooms right now my Lord. Or at least Bōis and On'na are, probably busy making out I'd imagine."

Naruto sweat dropped in embarrassment again, but this time for totally different reasons. 'So blunt...Sage help us whenever this boy finally hits puberty.'

"Are you alright Lord Hogake?"

Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts and got himself serious again. "Fine, fine. Listen Mitsuki, I'm here under very important business and I need to know where I can find Shinachiku?"

"Certainly sir," Mitsuki said. "Is this regarding the boy we discovered in the cave in the Land of Lightning?"

"Yes. Now where is he and where is my son."

"Right this way my Lord. The captain has been interrogating him for several hours now."

"Alone?"

"Hi Lord Seventh, it was the captain's orders."

Naruto paused in thought. If this strange new kid was really saying the things Shina told him about over the phone, then he wasn't too comfortable allowing his only son to be speaking to this kid all on his own without any backup.

"Mitsuki," Naruto ordered. "Take me to my son's location at once."

"Hai Lord Seventh, "Mitsuki responded. "Right this way."

The boy led the Hokage down a couple of hallways until he at last came to a singular door. "They are both waiting for you inside my lord."

"Arigato," Naruto smiled as the boy took his leave.

The blonde stood there for only a moment. He had no idea who or what he was going to find behind that door. Who was this kid that Shina told him about? Was he some nutcase, or was it something more?

 **"Are you going to stand there or are you going to open the door?"**

'Huh? That you Kurama?'

 **"You know of any other voices in your head kit?!"**

'Pfft! Whatever! So, what do you think of all this?'

 **"I think that you came all this way just to be here and now you ought to stop being a pussy and open the damn door!"**

'Jerk...'

Seeing no sense in delaying things any more, Naruto let out a sigh and knocked on the door.

"Come in," he heard someone say on the other side.

He opened the door to see that, indeed, his son was in there sitting in a chair. But in front of Shinachiku was another boy, one that looked shockingly similar to Naruto himself. He had blonde hair as both father and son did, but this boy's spiky look reminded Naruto very much of how he used to look back in his Genin years, with an ahoge sticking up in the back. He also shared Naruto's distinctive blue eyes, unlike Shina who inherited his green eyes from his mother. Those whisker marks, two on each cheek, so much like Naruto himself that it was terrifying! But it was something else, something else about the boy's face that stunned him the most. It looked so familiar...

The boy was wearing a black tracksuit with a red fire symbol on the left breast, a symbol that resembled a bolt on the back, and red stripes along the sides of his pants. Beneath his jacket, which was unzipped, Naruto could see that the boy had on a simple white T-shirt and also a bolt tied to a string around his neck, all this in addition to his Konoha forehead protector and his sandals.

But the most curious thing of all to Naruto was not what the boy looked like or how he was dressed, it was the position he was in. Shina and his squad had bound his arms and upper body in a straight jacket and had his legs shackled to the ground.

"DAD!"

Naruto did a double take. Why? Because both of these boys addressed him the exact same way, in one singular voice!

 _ **"What?!"**_

While Boruto appeared disappointed, Shinachiku got up out of his chair and waved his hands in the air to calm him down. "Easy! Easy dad! He's friendly."

The grown up blonde looked to the child blonde bound up before him. "He doesn't look like it."

Shina scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well...He did try one escape attempt, so...yeah, had to take precautions."

Naruto looked at his son quizzically before turning his attention back to where it needed to be at the moment. The boy stared at him with some sort of longing, desperation even. He never took his eyes off of Naruto as he took the same chair that Shina he sat in earlier.

"What is your name?" Naruto asked simply.

"Dad?" Boruto responded incredulously. "Come on...stop kidding around—"

"Answer the question."

There was no anger in his voice, no raise in pitch, but the sternness and seriousness was unmistakable. Whether this man was Bolt's father or not, he had come a long way to see him and he was **not** joking around.

"B-Boruto Uzumaki," the boy answered. "That is my name."

Naruto's face didn't show a trace of emotion, but those who knew him best could easily recognize the he was taking this in very carefully.

"And who are your parents?"

"Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyūga."

The Seventh Hokage continued to study the boy, narrowing his eyes very slightly. "You do look an awful lot like I did at your age kid, I give you that much."

"Then you believe me?!" Bolt asked in excited optimism.

"No."

That enthusiasm faded immediately and was replaced with a heartbroken frown. "Dad...please..."

Naruto folded his arms. "Hinata is a close friend of mine, that's true, and I have great respect for her. But she isn't my wife. Sakura Haruno is."

"But—"

"And I don't take kindly to any insinuations that I might have ever cheated on my wife by some kid who tries to play some sick prank."

"But—"

"Nor do I take kindly to that kid suggesting that my friend Hinata cheated on my friend Kiba."

"But—"

"Nor do I condone that kid's pranks getting in the way of my son and his team's hard work of tracking down the remaining chakra gems, dragging me miles and miles away from work in doing it."

"But dad—"

"And besides...you say Hinata's your mother, but you clearly don't have the Byakugan."

"No, but my sister awakened hers."

At that point Naruto stood up and actually grabbed the boy by his shirt. "Now listen to me kid! I don't know what kind of joke you're playing, but if you keep telling people that I cheated on my wife and had two kids with Hinata, mark my words I'm gonna—!"

"Dad."

Naruto stopped and turned his head to the source of the voice, his _real_ son. "What is it Shina?"

"He might not be lying about any of this after all."

The elder blonde put the boy down and faced his son. "What are you talking about?"

Shina reached into his pocket and pulled out the prize he and his team had recovered from that cave. "He appeared as soon as we found this."

Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of it. "Is...is that...?"

Shinachiku smiled. "Yep. It took us a whole year, but we finally found another chakra gem."

Naruto looked at the gem, momentarily entranced by its violet radiance. "What does it have to do with the boy?"

Putting the gem back in his pocket, Shina signaled for his father to lean in, in order to speak more privately and to keep the truth from unfriendly ears. "Listen dad, there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"When I..." he paused to try and makes sense of what he himself needed to say next. "When I first touched this gem I had a...a vision of some kind."

"A _vision?_ "

"I guess so. It was _really_ weird."

"What did you see?"

"I...I saw crazy things. Like I was being catapulted into the rest of the universe of something. I saw so many colors, so many worlds, so many people I didn't recognize—"

"Shina!" Naruto stopped. "Calm down, you're not making sense."

"I know I'm not, but the thing is...I heard a voice speaking to me."

The father suddenly got very suspicious. "What kind of voice?"

"I..." Shinachiku struggled to remember his bizarre encounter. "I'm not sure who it was, but they started talking to me about how small I was, how little I understood in some kind of... _vast multiverse_."

Narut was starting to get very uncomfortable... "I see...Umm, son, I think you've been working too hard and ought to lie down—"

"The voice...It said to me...for every choice we make, a new world is created. One world where we made that choice, and another where we didn't. Some world are nearly identical to our own, others completely different in every way."

"Shina..."

"And...And the voice told me that sometimes that can mean a world where we choose one love over another..." The boy turned to his father like he was having some sort of an epiphany. "And when my vision was ending, I remember feeling a hand on my arm...and when it was all over, this kid was there holding the gem with me."

Naruto was starting to get deathly scarred at what his own son was about to tell him. "What...What are you trying to say?"

"Dad..." Shinachiku paused for just a moment to glance at the boy he had bound up before looking back to his father, almost in disbelief at what he himself was about to say. "What if this boy _is_ your son with Aunt Hinata, in another universe?"

The father's eyes widened in shock. Time stood still, nobody in the room could say anything.

'This...This can't be real!' Naruto argued inside his mind. 'He can't...this kid...me and Hinata... No! No, this has to be a joke!'

 **"I'm not so sure about that Naruto."**

'Kurama, don't tell me you believe any of this?'

 **"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to believe. That's why the smart thing for you to do is to** _ **actually**_ **talk to this boy and get some more answers out of him."**

Naruto listened to the Nine-Tail's suggestion and, he had to admit, it was about the only logical thing they could do at this point. 'Fine. I have to keep interrogating him and get what I can of out of him.'

Looking back at the boy, he started to take pity on him for his current predicament. 'But if I'm going to get him to talk, then I'm going to need his trust.'

"Shina," Naruto said, "where are the keys to his restraints?"

Shinachiku reached into his jacket and pulled out a small ring of keys. "Here dad."

Taking the keys from his son, Naruto approached the boy, stopping in front of him and kneeling down. Boruto watched as the man he had hoped was his father all of a sudden inserted his keys into the restraints binding his legs and undoing the locks on his straight jacket.

Bolt stood back up again, _finally_ , and looked up at the blonde Hokage in nervous anticipation...Until Naruto's smile turned into the warmest, most sincere and trustworthy one he could muster.

He put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Come on, let's have a talk."

Shinachiku watched from the sidelines as his father and his possible doppelganger from another world got to talking. He figured he would have to join them in just a moment, but for right now he looked back down at the violet chakra gem he held in his hand that might very well have started this whole mess in the first place.

'Who are you?' the boy asked inside his own mind. 'Why did you speak to me? Why are you doing all of this?'

Squeezing his hand around the gem, the boy closed his eyes and sighed. 'Sage help us all if this somehow gets any worse...'

* * *

In his private quarters, the CGRS member known as Jōkā was listening in on everything that was being said inside that room. He was not present for the conversation, but he did not need to be. Long ago, when this squad was first formed and the Union had first moved them into this secluded headquarters, he had taken the careful precaution to bug every single room in the entire building. There was literally nothing that happened in this place that Jōkā didn't know about...Nor the other side of the line which he was funneling the recording into.

Turning back to the laptop computer he had at his side, he typed a message on the screen: _"Master, have you been listening to this?"_

Jōkā waited for only a moment before a new line of text appeared on the screen. _"Yes."_

Smiling, Jōkā typed a one word reply. _"Excellent."_

Almost just as quickly, however, another response came on the screen. _"Will this be a problem?"_

Thinking for only a moment, the young ninja began typing again, never once turning his ears away from the transmission coming from his targets. _"No master. Minor bump in the road. I've acted the fool to throw them off my trail and been planting false leads to the gems location for a year now. I know what I'm doing sir."_

Another line. _"And yet young Uzumaki has the gem now. And now he has a doppelganger."_

Jōkā typed again. _"As I said, minor bump in the road. It was one good lead they found in spite of me. Uzumaki got lucky. Once I learn what we need, it will be nothing I can't handle."_

And then a final message. _"He may not be his father, but he is still an Uzumaki. And now this other boy may be too. Don't underestimate them. END OF LINE."_

And with that, the conversation was terminated. Jōkā may have still been listening to Naruto and this 'Boruto' kid's currently going discussion, but his master was not, or more likely, he still was, but he no longer wished to speak.

'I swear to you master," Jōkā thought to himself, 'soon the chakra gem will be back in our hands where it belongs, as will the next gem, whomever has it...Hail Taka...'

* * *

Deep in the woodlands of the Land of Fire, footsteps could be heard crumbling the ground and twigs that littered the floor. A team of three bandits, missing-nin from the various different hidden villages, came to stand in this place. All three of them were dress is typical black, neutral ninja attire and wore black headband that covered their entire hair and scalps. Their metal forehead protectors were all scratched out, symbolizing their missing-nin status.

The bandits were here on business. They were called to this location and waited with deteriorating patience for their associate to make his arrival.

"I see him," one of the bandits told his leader.

Approaching their location was a middle aged man with piercing green eyes and white, shoulder-length hair with a slight hint of blue to it, maintained in an unkempt style. The man was rather thin became much more muscular and well defined in build, the result of years of weight lifting and training inside of the Leaf Village's most secure prison facility. He was dressed in an opened black vest, tight black pants, and a dark brown belt with had a silver rectangular belt buckle.

The mysterious man stopped before the hooded ninja. "Do you have it?"

The leader of the bandits—a man with light-colored hair slicked back with a part on one side and a moustache and beard, dressed in a dark-colored ensemble underneath a lighter-colored one with a distinct pattern—stepped forward to greet their contact.

"Mizuki," the bandit leader addressed his contact.

"Shojoji," the contact addressed the bandit leader. "Do you have it?'

Shojoji reached into his pocket and pulled out the item that the former Leaf ninja sought...a small orange gem.

"You're lucky," Shojoji said. "This wasn't easy to come by. Had to search far and wide and finally had to kill some old archaeologist from the Land of Water to get it."

Smiling, Mizuki took the gem in his hand. "Well then, a deal is a deal."

Reaching into his own pocket, he pulled out two vials, one filled with a clearish red fluid, the other a clearish blue fluid. "Two vials of Taka's chakra suppression serum, as promised."

Shojoji took the vials and put them into his pocket. "Domo arigato Mizuki. These will serve us well."

"And this," Mizuki opened his palm and showcase the glowing orange gem, "will serve all of us very well."

Gazing into the gem's vermilion radiance, Mizuki became lost in his own private fantasies of revenge. 'You took away my future Naruto...Now, I'm getting mine back...by taking away yours...'

* * *

Well, there you have it. Two more chess pieces are on the table in this complicated web that is this story. Where will it all lead? ...Well, you'll just have to keep reading to find out.

Okay, I will say that this was a difficult chapter to pin down the structure of. Originally I did intend to have Sakura learn about what's going on in this chapter, but I could just never find a way that felt like it flowed right to me. That will be coming soon enough however...or will it?

The scene I am probably most proud of in this chapter was the back and forth between Shinachiku and Boruto. We learn from this scene that Bolt was sucked into Shinachiku's universe right after he saw his father the last time before walking up in the hospital after Momoshiku and Kinshiki's attack on the Leaf Village...Yes, I will admit it here, as much as I didn't want to, I did feel an obligation to watch the Boruto movie before beginning this story. It wasn't out of desire, but out of writer's necessity. Anyway, if you've seen that movie, there is a moment where Bolt hears Sasuke's voice in his head as Naruto turns to smile at him while in Nine-Tailed Chakra Mode, then Bolt screams "DAD!" and the screen goes white. That is the point where Bolt is plucked from his own universe and brought into Shinachiku's.

On a writer's note, it was awfully amusing some of the back and forth the two boys got to share, particularly when Bolt had to eat crow upon hearing that Shina's family is rich, lives in three-floor mansion, how Shina himself was promoted to Chūnin without needing to take the exam, and even got to meet his grandparents. Also, Bolt finally got called out for cheating during his own Chūnin Exam. Again, if you've ever seen the movie or read the Boruto manga, you know what I'm taking about.

We got one more scene with our villains as they finally got the relic they were looking for. So now they have the scroll about he Four Guardian Best and the sword that can hold all seven chakra gems. What could their master plan be? And yes, as the Chakra Gems were very obviously inspired by the Infinity Gems, so too was the Sword of Ōtsutsuki obvious inspired by the Infinity Gauntlet, I just changed it from a metal glove to a weapon so as to not make the THAT much of a ripoff!

The scene where Naruto meets both for the first time was a surprisingly difficult scene for me to write and even now I'm not sure if I did the best job of it. Oh well, there's still plenty more to come before this story is over, so hopefully things will tense up as we go along.

There were two big pot twists at the end of this chapter, the first of which was the reveal of Jōkā's true allegiance. Those of you who have read "Konoha Tonight," the exposition prequel to this story, you might remember that in one of those episodes it was hinted that some people had suspected Mitsuki of actually being a Taka agent planted within Shina's squad to secretly stagger their efforts. That was always intended as a red herring on my part. As a mysterious character and, SPOILER. the genetic "son" of Orochimaru, I figured it made sense for him to be someone that people might not fully trust, but that was always just to lure you away from the real mole.

I have to say though, I didn't fully have it decided on it being Jōkā at first, but as I wrote the fist couple of chapters, the character clearly underwhelmed some of my readers and, frankly, I was disappointed in how he came across myself. It was really thanks to my friend samuraipanda85 for his comments on the character. He had said he hoped Jōkā would die and get redemption for his rather useless character...I decided from that comment that I might be much more interesting to reveal that his idiot persona was actually just an act and that he was a traitor intentionally sabotaging them this whole time. So panda, I know this isn't what you originally had in mind, but I hope you liked it nevertheless.

On a side note, the message board dialogue that Jōkā shares with Taka's leader was inspired by a bonus feature on the Blu-ray for "Tron: Legacy." On that Blu-ray there is a short film called "Flynn Lives: The Next Day," which follows up on the immediate aftermath of the film and both recounts and closes the door on the "Flynn Lives" ARG creates to promote the film. After "The Next Day" ends, there are then a series of three-digit codes you can enter to get additional Easter egg content. In one of these Easter eggs, there is a online conversation between what appears to be Ed Dilinger Jr. (Cilian Murphy's character) and his father (in the voice of the Master Control Program (MCP) from the original "Tron"). The two share very similar dialogue, even closing out on the famous "END OF LINE." This whole Easter egg has long been suspected to be set up for a third Tron film...which I honestly can't keep track of whether Disney has any intention of making anymore...

The second plot twist revealed in this chapter is that I bring back Mizuki, the traitorous Leaf ninja that Naruto and Iruka defeat in the very first chapter and episode of "Naruto," and reveal that he has gotten his hands on another chakra gem. Those of you who have read "Naruto and Sakura's Twelfth Anniversary" will remember that a pair of archaeologists discovered the Time Gem, well now these bandits (the Mujina Bandits from the Boruto manga, another little Easter egg) have killed them and stolen it to give to Mizuki in exchange for some of Taka's serum which has gotten out into the free world. All of this, again, I had set up in "Konoha Tonight."

So, what does Mizuki plan to do now that he has a chakra gem that can control time? And how could it impact our heroes as this story unfolds? We'll start finding out the answers to these questions, and more, as we get into future chapters. But that will have to wait for another day. For now, thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	8. Chapter 8--Awkward Meetings

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi back again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Yes, I know that it has been another long delay getting this chapter out, and I apologize. It's been a busy couple of weeks and with peak season coming up just around the corner, it's bound to only get worse. I thank you all for continued patience and I hope to one day get things back on a manageable schedule again.

But enough about that, this chapter's going to be pretty straightforward for the most part. However, there is one development in this chapter in particular that, both by its subject matter and by some very unfortunate timing with events in real life, may come off as controversial. I'll give my thoughts on that at the end of the chapter.

So, with that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Awkward Meetings**

Shinachiku Uzumaki was in his seat staring out the window as the train thundered down the track towards their destination in the dead of night. Mountains and trees passed by at a break neck pace, accompanied by that familiar noise of the metal rolling on metal and heavy weight of the train upending the tracks only a few millimeters before setting back down into perfect position again once the locomotive had passed them by.

As has so often been the case since his Uncle Sasuke took him on that fateful adventure to the Hidden Whirlpool Village over a year ago, the young teenager found himself lost in thought. Within the next day he would be back home in Konoha again, a chance to see his mother, sister, and grandparents all again. He should be excited to get the chance to come home...but he wasn't.

The reason for the boy's apprehension to return home was sitting in the seat right next to him, sound asleep. Boruto was coming home to Konoha with them, along with his father, his girlfriend, and even Mitsuki and Muon had agreed to come along as extra backup. With Shina heading back home for a time, he left Shikadai in charge as interim captain of the CGRS. Ordinarily Sarada would have been the one the take over in Shina's absence, but she insisted on coming back with him in the wake of what has happened, and well, when that girl had her mind made up about something, there was little use changing it.

Of course, what was _really_ on the boy's mind was what they were going to do about Bolt once they got back into the village. What was his mom going to do when she saw him? He had tried asking his father about it, but the only response he got from the elder blonde was "Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out."

'Yeah, real comforting dad...'

Shinachiku was no fool. Even being away from home so often for the last year, he was well aware that things were not going so well back at the house. Frankly, it was hard to miss. Naruto was spending so much time at the office since the invasion ended and coming home so late that his mom and sister barely ever got to see him anymore. Sakura was getting lonely, he could tell. He knew she understood his responsibilities as Hokage, but after a whole year of this the boy could tell it was taking a toll on her.

"Can't sleep?"

Shina turned his head to see his father sitting in the chair across and just to the right of him.

"Dad—"

"Shh!" Naruto hushed the boy as he put a finger to his mouth. He then pointed his left to the young teen girl sitting next to him and directly across from the boy. Sarada was sound asleep, her head leaned up against the side of the train. Shina smiled, charmed at her beautiful she looked.

He then looked at the others around him and realized that he and his father were the only ones still awake. Sarada was asleep in front of him, Bolt was asleep next to him, and Mitsuki and Muon were both asleep in their seats closest to the center aisle.

"Right, gomen," Shinachiku said in acknowledgement of his father, his voice quieter than normal to keep from waking the others up. "What about you dad? Haven't you gotten any sleep?"

"I did a little while ago, didn't last though."

"You're worried about mom, aren't you?"

Naruto stared at the boy in annoyance. "I told you son, I'd handle that."

"Right..."

There was an awkward silence between the two for a moment before Shinachiku noticed where his father's eyes were darting towards.

"Dad," Shina began. "Are you really sure this is such a good idea?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that if we bring Boruto back to Konoha with us, and if word gets out to the media who he is and who his parents are, then it could all get misinterpreted and cause a scandal that might have dire consequences for you. It could even cost you your job."

Naruto sighed. "I know. That's why all of us agreed that we would only disclose this to those we knew could be trusted. And under no circumstances would any of this get out to the press or to the Elders."

"By trustworthy, you mean those who know how to keep their mouths shut, yes?"

"...Yes."

There was another long silence before Boruto looked to the boy next to him, then looked awkwardly back at his father, recalling the story Bolt had shared with both of them about his parentage. "So...you and Aunt Hinata huh? That's umm..."

Naruto sweat dropped as he face took on a shade of red. "I don't want to think about it, that you."

The boy then took another awkward look at his slumbering girlfriend. "And uh...mom and Uncle Sasuke...?"

The red in Naruto's face got that much deeper. "I'm trying to think of **that** even less."

"Right, gomen." Shina decided it was for the best to change the subject. After all, it was horrific enough having to picture his parents having sex with each other. The absolute **last** thing he wanted to imagine was his folks sleeping around with anybody else!

"So..." This time Naruto was the one trying to start up the conversation. "Your grandma tells me that your sister has a boyfriend now?"

"Huh?" Shina asked before his memory kicked back in. "Oh yeah. His name's Hideo."

"Yeah, I heard. Your grandma says he's smart, adventurous, works hard, caring..."

"Yeah, he's a pretty good kid."

Naruto then got serious. "So you tell me son, does he treat your sister right?"

Shina chuckled a bit before answering. "I'm away from home so often that I barely get to see them together, but I've never seen him treat her with anything less than respect."

"Does she like him?"

"Why don't you ask her yourself when we get back? Or better yet, why don't you take the time to meet him yourself?"

"...Maybe I will."

Father and son shared a friendly smile before the father spoke again. "Say, when did you first meet this kid any how?"

And that was the question that got poor Shina nervous. He didn't say anything as him memory flashed back to the day he first met Hideo...

* * *

 _Knock! Knock!_

Shinachiku was sitting at the kitchen table working on his laptop computer, responding back to an email sent from Jōkā. According to his report, it seemed that yet another promising lead to one of the chakra gems turned out to be yet another dead end. Mitsuki was in charge of looking into that lead...

'No, no!' Shina told himself. 'Don't you go thinking like that! That's just those misguided conspiracy theorists out there spreading rumors. Mitsuki may be a mystery, but he sure as hell isn't a spy! ...Still, all these false leads for all these months is really getting irritating...'

It was then that he heard the knock on the door. Shutting the laptop, he got up from his chair and walked to the front door. Opening it he saw a face he did not recognize.

"Can I help you?"

The boy was young, very young, around Hanami's age. He had tan skin, brown hair, brown eyes, and was dressed in a light blue T-shirt and khaki shorts with black ninja sandals. He also had a backpack slung over his right shoulder, as if he had just gotten off from the academy or somewhere similar.

"Umm hi. Umm...is Hanami here?"

Shina looked at the boy in slight surprise. "No, she went with our mom to go get some groceries. I'm Hanami's brother. Are you a friend of hers?"

"Yeah." The boy stuck his hand out before speaking again, an innocent smile on his face. "My name's Hideo Shurui. I'm her boyfriend."

 _WHAM!_

The moment those words left the poor boy's mouth, Shinachiku's mind instantly went into overprotective big brother mode and he punched the kid right in the face, sending him down to the floor...

...Suffice to say,, it led to a very awkward conversation when Shina got his wits about him and the boy came too...and after Sakura and Hanami came home...

* * *

"Shina?"

The boy blushed in embarrassment as he scratched his head. "Eh, hehehe..." He noticed one of the stewardesses walking by pushing the food cart. "Oh! Excuse me ma'am?"

Naruto chuckled and he shook his head side to side. 'Still such a boy...'

* * *

Back in Konoha, a team of scientists and engineers were hard at work on new developments for the Hidden Leaf Village's ranks. These men were part of the tokubetsu Jōnin of the village's Science Ninja Weapons Team. Some of the Leaf's most advanced new weapons and tools were being created here...as well as some of their more controversial.

The laboratory itself was a model of efficiency. Scientists and mechanists toiled away with gadgets, drawing up plans, writing down new formulas, and going through test after test of their new ideas before they were ready to be brought before the Hokage and the Elders for approval.

Today, with the Hokage still out of town and not due to arrive until this afternoon, that left three of Naruto's closest and most trusted allies—Anbu captains Saskue Uchiha and Sai Yamanaka, and his adviser Shikamaru Nara—to fill in for him when they were called at the insistence of the team's most vocal and assertive member.

An utter annoyance to his three guests—not to mention the Hokage himself—the man in question had a short crop of brown hair and brown eyes over which he wore a pair of glasses. He was dressed in a completely white suit befitting a scientist, wearing no forehead protector.

The scientist had the two men in a room split in half by half a wall. On the other side of the half-wall it was pretty blank, save for a crude wooden illustration of a being hanging on the brick wall behind it. On their side of the half-wall, there was a table with four pairs of ear muffs sitting on it, as well as several black cartridges of some sort.

"This had better be worth it Katasuke," Sasuke complained.

"For once I agree with Sasuke," Shikamaru concurred. "We all have plenty of pressing matters that need our attention right now."

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," the science ninja reassured them arrogantly, "let us not put a damper on this moment. I assure you that I have asked the three of you here to see the future of the defense of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Are you referring to your invention, the Kote?" Sai questioned. "If so, then you are aware that Lord Hokage has already denied your request."

Katasuke frowned at the blatancy of the former Root member's statement. "Err...yes. Well, given time all things turn around in favor of progress. But alas, what I wish to show you all today is an even more accessible invention, one that is exceptionally simple in design and so easy to use that literally anyone could manage it."

Sasuke folded his arms. "What are you babbling about?"

Smirking, Katasuke reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was something black, almost shaped like the letter L, only curved more to allow better comfort inside someone's hand. The object had a ring on it's underside, and within that ring a trigger. At the front end of the device was a silver ring, the centre of which would allow something to pass inside of it...or for something to come out of it.

"What is that thing?" Sai questioned.

" _This_ gentlemen, " Katasuke said as he held up the device, "is the future of defense for the Shinobi Union."

"What are you talking about?" Shikamaru asked.

The science ninja began explaining. "Within this weapon is a reloadable cartridge containing shot bullets made of pure lead. By pointing this weapon at an enemy and firing the trigger, a bullet will leave the barrel at such a high rate of velocity that it will shoot through the air at deadly speed and hit it's intended target for maximum damage. But don't take my word for it, see for yourself."

With that, Katasuke signaled to the table next to them, silently telling them to put on their ear muffs, as he did the same. Taking position facing the wooden cutout on the far wall. he held the weapon out in from of him with both hands and one of his fingers inside the ring and resting on the trigger. Squinting his eyes to get the clearest shot, everything was quiet...and then he pulled the trigger.

 _BANG!_

With a loud boom, a bullet shot out of the silver ring at the front of the weapon and hit the wooden figure right in it's head. If this were a real life human being, such an impact would have been a quick and sudden kill.

But Katasuke wasn't done. He pulled the trigger again, this time aiming for the figure's heart, then again for its lung, then for its head again, then for it's stomach, then its head yet again.

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_ That was the sound the three shinobi heard one after another. But then they heard a click instead, and no more bullets were shooting out of the weapon. But that did not stop Katasuke, who quickly popped out a black cartridge similar to the ones on the table, set it down, and refilled his weapon with one of said cartridges.

With a signal to one of his assistants whom the other three could not see, five more of these figures appeared where the former once stood, brought in by hydraulic machines. Katasuke starting firing again, _BANG! BANG! BANG!_ He fired ammunition form his weapon from his weapon one after another into each of the five wooden figures in rapid succession With every six shots, a cartridge would run out and be rapidly changed before he started firing again. By the time all of the cartridges had finally been used up, all of the wooden figures were left a splintered, ugly mess on the floor.

Putting the weapon down on the table, he took off his ear muffs and set them down as well, which prompted his three guests to do the same.

"As you can see, with power such as this within the palm of your hand, taking down an enemy of our village is a simple and fast as, literally, pulling a trigger. Impact by a speeding bullet may result in instant death, or severe blood loss, or even lead poisoning. With these weapons, we can keep the peace more easily and more efficiently than ever before. Why, you can bullseye the intended target without anyone even knowing you're there. With this, Taka can be taken down swiftly and lethally and this war will finally be over." He smiled in pride. "So, gentlemen, after the demonstration you have just witnessesed, I trust I can count on you all to inform Lord Seventh about our new creation?"

The three shinobi turned to one another before they looked back at him with extremely disappointed glares.

Shikamaru spoke for the three of them. "I don't need to speak to Naruto, because I already know what he'll say."

Katasuke smiled in pride. "That I am a genius?"

"No...that we should fire you."

The smile immediately drained from the science ninja's face at those words. "What?"

Sai picked up the weapon from the table and observed it for himself. "Such a tactlesss weapon. Loud, clumsy, utterly devoid of any technique or training."

"But..." Katasuke tried to counter. "But that's part of the point. It makes everything easier. There would be no need for studying ninjutsu or genjutsu anymore. Anyone can defend themselves with one of these."

"Exactly. _Anyone_ could do that." Sasuke said that with the greatest tone of disgust of the three of them. "We shinobi train our entire lies to fight and harness our chakra. That's part of what being a ninja is all about." He flicked his wrist and three kunai appeared from his sleeve, which he held in between his fingers. "Our weapons are silent, efficient, deadly. They take training, skill, _effort_ to master."

Sasuke grabbed the weapon from Sai and held it up for the others to see. "Our ninja weapons, our minds, and our fists, those are the weapons of a man. _This_ thing you and your team have created, _this_ is the weapon of a coward!"

With disgust, he slammed the weapon down on the ground, then unsheathed his chokutō and sliced it cleanly in half.

"AH!" Katasuke yelled as he scrambled to collect the pieces of his creation. "What have you done?! That was one of the prototypes!"

"Good riddance!" Shikamaru cursed.

"What say you?!" Katasuke questioned in fury.

"Katasuke, your new weapon is a disgrace to everything the ninja stands for. It literally takes what precious little nobility there is to be found in warfare and _completely_ strips it away."

"But—"

"Even the Kote had more dignity to it than this thing does," Sai added.

"But—"

Shikamaru spoke again. "Did you stop to consider what would happen if some maniac with or without ninjutsu got a hold of one of these? The kind of mass casualties they could unleash it they got out into the wrong hands?! If anyone can use it, then literally _**anyone**_ can use it!"

"But—"

"A shinobi has to train, work hard, earn their power and in so doing gains respect for it," Sai continued. "With this thing, there is literally nothing to respect. It is the power to take a life without earning _anything_. It takes the power to take another life and makes it entirely too easy. Too impersonal. Too..." Sai tried to find a better word, but he could not come up with one, so he merely repeated a word that Sasuke had used earlier. "...Cowardly."

Finally Katasuke got his voice in. "But how is that any different than what we do now? We wait in the treetops for the enemy to appear then we throw a kunai at them to take them out. Is that sort of combat any less cowardly?"

Sasuke spoke again. "A kunai is silent and swift, not loud and clumsy."

"If the enemy is dead, what difference does it make?! When you are all out of chakra and your ninja weapons are all gone, but innocent lives are still in the hands of a madman, what do you do then?"

"I already told you," Sasuke continued. "You act like a man and use the most important tools you have, your **brains** and your **fists**."

Scowling and fed up with this argument, Katasuke finished gathering up the pieces of his weapon and stood back up, holding his hands up for the others to see. "You just don't appreciate what you've destroyed. _This_ is the tool of the future!"

Sasuke smirked as he admired his handiwork. "Future's bright."

"You can't stop this," Katasuke insisted. "Whether you like it or not the world is changing and we need to change with it. Progress always wins."

Shikamaru shook his head in shame. "I doubt Lord Seventh will see it that way."

Without saying anything else, the three men exited the room, leaving Katasuke alone with his failed masterpiece. This demonstration was meant to be his opportunity to prove himself, to change the course of the shinobi world forever. But instead it all came crashing down like a ton of bricks.

Looking down at the mess of metal in his hands, he tightened his fists around it. 'Maybe Lord Seventh won't see the future for what it is...but perhaps somebody else will...'

* * *

The train came into the station by 3:00 pm. With the brakes screeching to a halt, the conductor shouted, "Disembarking now!"

Naruto stood up from his seat, the five children around his still sitting where they were. "Alright, get your stuff kids. We're home now."

"But I am not from Konoha Lord Hokage," Mitsuki corrected.

The blonde put his head in his hand. "It was just a generalization Mitsuki, okay?"

"Understood sir," the blue-haired boy replied with no visible change of emotion.

Naruto sweat dropped. 'What is wrong with this kid?'

"Hey dad, is mom going to meet us at the station?"

"Yes Shina, your mother's going to be there."

Boruto then spoke nervously. "What about _my_ mom?"

Poor Naruto was at a loss for words. "...I'm sorry Bolt, Hinata's not coming."

"Does she even know I'm here?"

"...I don't know if that's such a good idea right now."

"But she's my **mom?!** "

Naruto raised his arms up in self defense. Really, what could he do? He couldn't just take this kid to the Inuzuka house. What would she say? Worst yet, what would Kiba say?!

Shinachiku broke the mood when he put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "Calm down, we'll get this straightened out."

Something came over Boruto and he rudely shrugged the slightly older blonde's arm off. "Who the hell asked **you?!** "

"HEY!" Sarada shouted. "Don't you go yelling at my boyfriend like that!"

Bolt backed off and frowned. Even it this girl wasn't the same Sarada he knew, it still stun to see her coming to this other kid's defense instead of his own.

"Listen," Naruto said as he kneeled down to look the boy in the eyes, trying to put on the nicest smile he could. "I know that all of this must be stressful for you...honestly its pretty confusing for all of us. But we'll figure out why you're here and how to get you home."

Bolt looked back at his 'father' with pity. "And then...And then everything will go back to normal again...I mean, before those guys attacked the village?"

The elder blonde paused for just a moment, not able to bringing himself to lie to this boy, whether he was his son or not. "...I'm sorry Bolt, I wish I could promise that."

Bolt folded his arms in disgust, appearing very, very angry. Naruto could sense this and knew that things needed to be said right now. "Hey, why don't the rest of you kids go ahead and get your stuff? I think the two of us need to talk a bit."

Shinachiku and Sarada both glanced and one another, and then at their two companions. The kids then got up and reached for their luggage stored in the overhead compartments. One by one, the four of them filed out into the aisle way.

"Hey," Sarada whispered to her boyfriend. "You don't think that your dad is growing soft on this kid, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you don't think that he's _really_ starting to care about this kid? Y'know, like he does you?"

Shinachiku hesitated before answering that question. "I...I think he's just trying to get the kid comfortable. We need to get him to trust us if we are going to really figure this out."

"That does seem to most logical course of action," Mitsuki reasoned. "Still, perhaps bringing the boy with us to Konoha was a mistake?"

The raven-haired girl raised her eyebrow. "And what would you have done?"

"I would have escorted him to Union HQ, there we could keep him in solitary confinement and question him for all he knows and them some. There would be zero threat to civilian life that way."

"No!" Shina protested. "No, can't just treat him like a prisoner. If he's right and his being here has to do with the chakra gem, then he's just as much a victim as the rest of us are."

"Captain," Mitsuki spoke again, "do you truly believe that this boy could be your double from some sort of alternate reality where your father married another woman?"

"..."

"Captain?"

"..."

"Shina?"

At Sarada's voice, Shinachiku let out a sigh. "I say we just go and tell the conductor that the Hokage will be a moment."

Mitsuki nodded and turned to his other teammate. "What do you think about all of this Muon?"

The Kumo ninja merely turned to the blue-haired boy and said nothing, as usual.

Shinachiku smiled at his teammate's wordless response. "I can respect that."

While the kids were disembarking, Naruto was speaking to his 'son' about what was bothering him. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"..."

"Kid, I can't help you if you won't talk to me."

The boy mumbled, "You still won't help me even if I do talk to you..."

"What was that?"

The boy snapped. "Oh come on! Even if you aren't my dad, why should I even care?! You both are a bunch of jerks anyway?"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Let me guess, the reason you brought me back here was just so you can study and interrogate me, and decide what to do with me if you think I'm a threat to the village, right?"

Naruto said nothing.

Bolt sighed. "I should have known. The village is all that ever matters to you."

"Hey!" Naruto raised his voice slightly. "I'm not sure I like your tone all of a sudden. I'm the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, a very busy man."

"Exactly! You're _always_ busy! You spend all your time in your office doing important work for the village and you're rarely ever home with the rest of us!"

The elder blonde's temper subsided immediately at what the boy had just said. "W-What are you saying...?"

The boy scoffed. "You keep coming home late at night, you don't apologize to us, you miss holidays, you almost never help me with training. And when you _do_ do any of those things, it turns out to just be a shadow clone!"

"Hey! I would _never_ send a shadow close to spend time with my family for me while I go off and work! I've always done the opposite!"

"You sent a shadow clone to Himawari's birthday a couple of days ago!"

"..."

Bolt folded his arms. "Got nothing to say, huh?"

"...I...I didn't..."

"You need to be home with us! I have to see mom sad every night waiting for you. She never says it, but I know she's sad!"

Naruto was unable to say anything. This boy's words got him thinking about his own family. About Hanami... About his parents... About Sakura...

Bolt paused for a moment and realized what he had just done. He could tell from the look in the man's eyes that he really didn't know anything about that. "Sorry, alright. I forgot that you aren't my real dad. ...Well, you kind of are...AGH! This is so confusing!"

"...I'm sorry."

The boy actually appeared shocked. "W-Wha...?"

"I'm sorry you've had to go through all of that."

'What the hell? Dad doesn't apologize for stuff like this.' "What are you apologizing for? You're not the Naruto I'm mad at."

"Maybe not, but I am still Naruto."

Time seemed to stand still for the two of them, until finally Naruto spoke again. "Listen, I may not be your father, at least not in this world, but you do have a father out there, and whoever he is, he's an ass for ignoring a boy like you!"

Bolt listened to the man's words as he continued. "I've...I've been making some mistakes with my family too, and I'm ashamed of them...But I'm going to make it up to them. And when we get you home I think you should tell your dad how you feel. If he's any sort of a father at all, he'll realize he's been doing things wrong and set it right."

Bolt saw Naruto there in front of him, a bright, goofy smile on his face. He remember the old days, before his own Naruto became the Hokage. Oh how he loved it when he used to smile like that...

"D-Domo..." That was all the boy could say as he dried the tears that were forming in the corner of his eye.

Smiling again, Naruto put his hand on his shoulder. "Great. Now come on, I've got some people I need you to meet."

Taking the boy by the hand, the two of them got up and started walking down the hail way with their luggage in tow. But as they did so, all the Hokage could think about was one simple question: 'How he hell am I supposed to explain this to Sakura...?'

* * *

As the kids disembarked, They could see their parents there to greet them. Sakura was standing there smiling happily with Hanami at her side. Sasuke and Karin were there also, with the bifocaled Uzumaki-turned-Uchiha leaning in to her husband as he wrapped his bandaged, artificial arm around her form.

"Mommy!" Hanami shouted as she pointed ahead of her. "I see oniichan!"

Looking up, she could see that indeed it was true. There in the flesh was her first born, her pride and joy. The young blonde teenager that she had brought into this world and raised since birth, now a world renowned Chūnin and captain of his very own international ninja squadron.

'Shina...' The proud mother was so happy to finally see her baby boy back at home.

But she was not the only one that was happy. Karin was just as elated at the sight of the teen girl walking right at the boy's side. "Sarada.."

"Hey?" Sasuke turned her head around at the sound of his wife's voice. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine," the redhead replied to conceal her moment of motherly bliss. Not that it could fool him of course, especially with her telltale sign of readjusting her glasses.

"Come on," Sasuke said letting her go. "They're waiting for us."

As one, the four people moved forward to approach the children. When they got close enough, the young couple took notice and were overcome with joy to finally, after so long away from home, be reunited with their families.

"Mom! Dad!" Sarada shouted as she waved her arm in the air to signal to them.

"Sweetheart!" Karin rushed over and wrapped her daughter in a hug. "I'm so happy you're back home again.

And that was when the girl's typical teenage sense of embarrassment kicked in as she blushed and returned the hug, hoping that they weren't creating too awkward a scene to attract attention. "Err...I'm happy to see you too mom."

When her mother let got of her, the girl lit up to see her father there beside her, giving her one of his usual smug smiles.

"You've gotten stronger," Sasuke said.

"Dad..."

This time it was the girl herself who initiated things, leaping to her father and wrapping her arms around him. Sasuke found himself taken aback for a moment before his did the same.

Shinachiku smiled at the scene before hearing a familiar voice cry out "Oniichan!"

Turning his head back to the source of the voice, even his ninja training did not afford him enough time to prepare for his little sister leaping onto him like a train!

"Oniichan! I missed you so much!"

The boy was quick to get over his own embarrassment and return her hug. "I missed you too sis."

Noticing the beautiful woman in the red dress standing just in front of them. He could make out the beginning of tears in the corner of her eyes. Politely breaking up the hug the boy stood up straight and smiled widely. "Hey mom."

With droplets of tears flying into the wind, Sakura wrapped her son into her own hug, one full of emotion yet controlled so as not to accidentally let any of her superhuman strength slip through and potentially crush the poor boy.

"Shina," she said, "I can't believe you're finally home."

"I'm happy to be home too mom, really..." He relaxed into her hug and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment before his own sense of teen masculinity kicked in and he politely broke up to hug in case anybody else was looking.

"It's good to see you again Aunt Sakura," Sarada said politely.

"It's good to see you too dear," Sakura then took notice of the other two boys that accompanied the children. "Oh hello Mitsuki, nice to see you here."

The mysterious blue-haired boy bowed in politeness. "The pleasure is mine Lady Sakura. The captain always speaks so fondly of you."

The pinkette sweat dropped. 'That boy is always so polite.'

"Oh," the boy continued, "and congratulations on becoming pregnant again. Clearly Lord Hokage's sperm is every bit as good as his reputation claims it is."

The poor woman's face faulted and her eyebrow twitched in irritation. ' _Most_ of the time he's polite. The rest of the time he's just plain rude!'

Sarada whacked the boy upside the head. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You don't talk to a woman like that in public!"

"Especially not **my** mom! With me and my **sister** here!" Shinachiku shouted back, even more furious.

"Gomen captain," Mitsuki said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head innocently, as if he really didn't see the problem with what he had just said.

Hanami tugged on her mother's dress to get her attention. "Mommy, what's sperm?"

"Ah...I'll tell you when you're a little older sweetie." Sakura told her in embarrassment. But then she also noticed the other boy that had accompanied them, the one who hadn't said anything this whole time. "Oh, hello there. Um...Muon, was it?"

"..."

"Uhh... Alright then. Glad to see you too."

"..."

Karin leaned forward and whisper into her daughter's ear. "Remind me again why that boy never talks?"

"Mom," Sarada whispered back, "if he could tell us that, there wouldn't be any problem, would there?"

"Hey!" Sasuke interrupted everyone to get their attention. "Head's up all of you. Naruto's finally getting off the train."

The others all turned their heads to the train as, indeed, the Orange Hokage disembarked from the locomotive...along with a strange young boy with blonde hair that four of them had never seen before.

The adults did not notice that Shinachiku and Sarada shared a knowing glance in each other's direction. This was either going to go well enough, or go very, _very_ badly...

Naruto approached the others with his luggage in hand and the boy on his heals. "Hey everyone, sorry I held you up."

"Daddy!"

Hanami couldn't resist as she excitedly ran right up into her father's arms for a great big hug. Naruto was no less enthusiastic.

"How's my little princess?" the proud father asked of his little girl.

"I'm okay. I missed you daddy."

"I missed you too sweetie."

The boy at Naruto's side looked at the scene with a sense of sadness. It was almost as if the scene reminded of someone he knew, someone he'd left behind from the world he'd come from...

The girl's pleasure at seeing her father again was cut short when she finally noticed the boy that was standing there. "Hi," she said in a completely polite and innocent tone. "I'm Hanami."

The boy, so often the tough and confident type, instead responded to the girl's introduction with a sense of shyness and discomfort, almost avoiding eye contact with her. "Err...hi."

"Naruto," Sakura asked her husband, "who is this boy?"

The blonde swallowed a lump in his throat he did not even know he had. "Umm...well..."

"Mom," Shinachiku decided to step in for his father sake. "This is Boruto. He appeared before us after we found another chakra gem inside a cave in the Land of Lightning."

"Just appeared?" Karin questioned.

"Yeah, it was weird. I touched the gem, saw something, and when I came too he was there."

Sasuke eyed his godson suspiciously. " _Saw something_ , you say? Like what?"

The boy hesitated now, not totally sure whether he should reveal the vision he had seen from touching the gem at this time.

Not getting an answer from Shinachiku, Sasuke turned his attention to the mysterious new boy at Naruto's side. "You know dobe," he said as he looked back up at his best friend, "I notice that this kid looks an awful lot like you." The Uchiha then took note of the two whisker marks on each of the boy's cheeks. "Very much like you."

Naruto would have responded, were he not feeling offended by the cold glare he was getting from his best friend. He decided instead to go ahead and introduce the boy to the others.

"Um, Bolt," he said as he directed the boy to the woman in red, "this is my beautiful wife and Shinachiku and Hanami's mother, Sakura."

"Hello Bolt." Sakura smiled and did her best to be polite to this strange child...at least on the outside. On the inside, the woman was feeling really uneasy. Sasuke was right, this kid looked _really_ similar to her husband, even his mannerisms seemed way too familiar to a certain blonde teammate that used to annoy her back on Team 7.

"Hi Aunt Sa—I mean, hi Lady Sakura, ma'am!"

The pinkette was taking aback at what she thought shed almost heard. "Um...hi."

Sasuke looked back up at the elder blonde. " _Aunt?_ What the hell is going on dobe?!" He then yelled right to the boy himself. "Hey! Why did you say Sakura was your aunt kid?"

"Sorry Uncle Sas—I mean sensei!—I mean Uchiha-san!"

Shinachiku closed his eyes shut and pinched his nose in regret. 'Dammit...'

"I think you've got things seriously confused brat," the Uchiha retorted in frustration. "I'm not your uncle or your sensei. I've never met you in my life."

Boruto didn't say anything more and instead just kept his mouth shut.

"Naruto?"

The elder blonde turned to look at his confused and, at this point, noticeably worried wife. He could tell that she wanted an explanation, they all did, and they deserved it, and the sooner it was out in the open, the sooner they could get to serious work getting to the bottom of all of this.

..So, with a heavy sigh, the Orange Hokage tuned to the boy next to him and nodded, a silent acknowledgement of his permission.

Steeping forward, the boy introduced himself. "I'm Boruto Uzumaki, son of Naruto Uzumaki and Hinata Hyūga, and I am, I guess, here from another universe because of—"

"MOM!"

Bolt never got to finish his introduction. Why? Because poor Sakura, tears in her eyes, passed out from the shock and fainted right there at the train station! It was only thanks to Shinachiku's ninja speed that he was quick enough to catch his mother before she hit her head on the cement floor.

"MOMMY!" Hanami screamed.

"SAKURA!" Naruto cried out in horror as he was just about to rush over to his wife.

'NARUTO!"

Naruto never got to reach Sakura because he was knocked unconscious by a completely furious Sasuke Uchiha! With his artificial left hand, Sasuke knocked his adulterous friend out with one ruthless punch to the gut, hard enough to make the child of prophecy cough up a glob of his own blood, followed by a karate chop to the back of the neck.

As Naruto blacked out, one name echoed through his mind. 'Sakura...'

Both Boruto and Shinachiku were shocked at the scene, and they both shared the same, terrible thought themselves: 'What have I done...'

* * *

Oh dear, that didn't go very well, now did it? Well there you have it, Sakura and Boruto have finally met. And the end result wasn't a furious accusation of infidelity, nor a crying depression, no, she fainted. I would like to remind you that she fainted and nearly hit the pavement while she is WITH CHILD also!

I thought about what the best reaction to this encounter ought to be that would still keep Sakura likable and, for better or worse, this is what I came up with. Actually, as I was writing it, I realized that it is not unlike the way Hinata might react to such shocking news, which, for obvious reasons, seemed ironically appropriate here, but make of it what you will.

No, instead the one who has the over-the-top violent reaction is Sasuke, or all people. Bet you didn't see that coming, did you? I'm not totally sure why I decided on going with that idea other than that it just felt appropriate and surprising in the right kind of way, and the kind of reaction I can see Sasuke maybe having to learning that his best friend "cheated" on his wife and former teammate at this phase in his life.

Most of the action here was of the personal and emotional variety, both with Naruto's interaction with Shinachiku and Boruto. The Boruto scenes I was particularly careful with since, frankly, Naruto is still unsure exactly how to deal with this kid, but he still wants to get his trust and to show him some kindness, especially after getting an idea of what kind of a father his canon counterpart has been to this boy.

But let's talk about the scene in here that I suspect is going to raise some debate, the gun scene. This idea of exploring what kind of reaction the Naruto world, nee the entire shinobi system, would have with the sudden introduction of firearms was something I have been interested in exploring for a while now, and Katasuke and his science ninja team introduced in the Boruto movie seemed like the perfect group to be on the cutting edge of such a thing. There is a reason why I don't think Kishimoto has ever had guns in his series, even after the enormous technological boom that we see in Boruto, and that is because once you have guns, then the ninja arts instantly become outdated. The argument instantly becomes "Why do they bother training these kids to throw punches and kunai and to use their chakra to defeat their enemies, when they can just blow them away with a couple of bullets instead?" That is why we see Sasuke, Shikamaru ad Sai reacting so negatively to Katasuke's demonstration, because it is a insult to their very way of life.

Unfortunately, even though it was always my plan to bring in this element by this point from very early on in this story's development (I even foreshadowed it in the prequel story "Konoha Tonight"), it had to extreme misfortune of lining up to be written right after the tragedy that occurred last Sunday in Las Vegas, Nevada. What happened that night was a horrible tragedy that unjustly took the lives of almost 60 people and wounded hundreds more. It is the worst mass shooting event in the history of the United States and the latest example of far, far too many of these horrific events dominating our cultural landscape in this century. Because of this, I was not able to even write this scene for several days until after the shooting had occurred, but I decided that the best thing to do would be to proceed with what I originally had planned. I actually had a couple more statements against the dangers that the three shinobi had against Katasuke's invention, but I cut them because they would have been WAY too on-the-nose of what had just happened last weekend.

Long story short, I apologize in case anybody was offended. It was an idea I had from early on that just happened to fall at a very bad time, and I chose to stand by the arc I had planned instead of working too hard to be politically correct. My heart and prayers do go out to all the victims of Sunday's disaster and to their loved ones. May God bless you.

I really don't have a lot of references to point out in this chapter, except that in the gun scene some of the guys do comment on how "uncivilized" and "cowardly" this kind of weaponry is. This was inspired by two different sources. The first was "Star Wars," with how Obi-Wan Kenobi always spoke of blasters as an "uncivilized" weapon when compared to a lightsaber. The other was "The Dark Knight Returns," during the scene where Batman is rallying the Sons of Batman gang to help him bring order to Gotham after the nuclear blackout. He tells them that they are going to maintain order with their brains and fists, not with guns, which he calls "loud and clumsy" and "the weapons of cowards." He instead says that their weapons (i.e. his Batarangs) are swift and efficient. I think both of these perspectives sum up the shinobi way of life excellently. If you offer a Konoha a gun, chances are they will quickly refuse it for these very reasons.

Okay, I think I need to get off my soap box now. I hope all of you enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to seeing you back for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	9. Chapter 9--The Chain

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Now I have to warn you, this particular chapter is going to get dark, or at least really angsty. A lot of emotional drama is going to play out in this chapter that I felt I needed to do. In other words, this chapter has much more to do with the characters than advancing the plot, but I think you guys will get something out of it either way.

So, with that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 9: The Chain**

"Ughh..."

Naruto felt his eyes crack open ever so slightly. He needed to blink a couple of times due to the bright light shining into his eyes. He could also feel that he had a killer headache.

Getting his barrings, he realizes that the light was coming from the bulb hanging from the ceiling. He was in a place he knew like the back of his own hand. It was his master bedroom, and he was sleeping in his and Sakura's bed.

'Sakura!'

The Orange Hokage thrust himself forward in shock when he remembered what had happened at the train station.

"Easy Naruto, don't force yourself."

Turning his head to the side, the blonde saw his father sitting in a chair next to his bed. He was sitting in a fairly relaxed posture, totally calm and unassuming.

"D-Dad?"

"That's me."

Naruto shook his head to get himself back together and to try to get over his damned headache. "W-What happened? Why am I in bed? Where's Sakura?"

"I'll be happy to answer your questions son," Minato said. "One, you got knocked out by Sasuke. Two, because your mother and I carried you back here. And three, she's at her parent's apartment. She's fine. Hanami's there too."

"Oh..." He laid back down on the pillow looking up at the ceiling again. "I'm sure she must be furious with me, huh?"

"No, she's already forgiven you."

"Huh?!" Naruto instantly shot up again at what his father had just said. "What are you talking about?"

Minato started explaining. "After Sasuke knocked you out, Shinachiku stepped in before things got any worse. He explained that the boy you brought with you is your son from another world where another version of you is married to Hinata instead of Sakura."

"Really? And they believed him?"

"Oh course not. That's when Shina explained to us what happened inside that cave in the Land of Lightning when he found the chakra gem. Since then we've had Ino probe into the boy's mind and she was able to confirm that what he is saying is true, or at least he _believes_ its all true."

Naruto looked down for a moment before looking back up and continuing. "You think the kid's crazy, don't you?"

Minato folded his arms. "I think that I speak from experience when I say that the chakra gems are capable of amazing things. Look at your mother and I, it was only because Taka used one of those gems that the two of us are even alive right now."

The younger blonde put on a weak smile before getting serious again. "Where is Boruto now?"

"Shikamaru and Sasuke have him in quarantine right now. They're pressing him for questions left and right to get as much information out of him as they can." The elder blonde paused before continuing. "I actually feel sorry for him."

"What do you mean dad?"

"Well, regardless of what universe he may come from, if he is truly your son, then I am still his grandfather."

"...I guess, but—"

"I can't begin to imagine what this all must be like for him. To suddenly arrive in a strange world so much like his own, yet a world where he doesn't exist because his parents never got together. I wonder if Shina would have felt the same way if he had gotten himself stuck in Boruto's world instead?"

Naruto found himself unable to say anything for a moment, seemingly taking in what his father had just said. He had tried hard to get his head into Bolt's predicament, but even now it was no cakewalk. Frankly, thinking about all of this was only making his stupid headache even worse!

Minato stood up from his chair. "Boruto's identity had been classified an S-ranked secret, even from the Elders thank goodness. Besides those at the train station today, only your mother and I, Master Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, Kakashi, Shizune, Shikamaru, Temari, Ino and Sai know the truth. None of them are mad at you... _yet_."

"But Sasuke—?"

"Is deeply sorry for jumping to conclusions and assuming you and Hinata were having an affair."

The younger blonde seemed surprised. "Sasuke apologized?"

"Not _out loud_." Minato smirked, causing his son to smirk back. That was Sasuke's pride in a nutshell.

But then, another terrible thought crossed the Hokage's mind. "Dad, what about Hinata? Does she know?"

"No," Minato was quick to answer. "Shikamaru was quick to reason that to go and tell Hinata _or_ Kiba _or_ Neji about any of this at this time would be extremely unwise."

"Does the kid know about that decision?

"Yes."

"Is he taking it well?"

"No."

Naruto hung his head and sighed before throwing off the covers and getting out of bed. "I need to go see Sakura."

"I would advise against that."

"But you said—?"

"I said that Sakura's forgiven you. That doesn't mean that things might not be awkward between you two as long as the boy is here."

Naruto was erratic. "But I can't just stay here and do nothing!"

"No, you cannot." Minato put his hand on his son's shoulder. "But take it from someone with experience, a Hokage needs to act not only with his heart but with his mind. Your heart might tell you to go to Sakura, but what does your brain tell you?"

Naruto merely stared at his father for a moment before turning his head to the side and cursing under his breath. "Damn it."

Since he was already up, he headed over to his closet to pick out a new set of clothes. Minato looked on in pity.

'I know you love her son, and she loves you...just hang in there.'

* * *

"AAAHHH!"

Sakura woke up in a cold sweat. Looking around, she was in her old childhood bedroom, in her old bed. It was obviously much more plain after she had moved in with Naruto, but the space was unmistakable.

But she was immediately taken out of her thoughts when the door flung open and an older woman with fair skin, green eyes like Sakura herself, and shoulder-length, blonde hair with a single bang falling down her face. She was dressed in her familiar white qipao dress with three red circular designs at the bottom of the front of her dress as well as the back. She wore pink ¾-length pants along with brown sandals.

"Sakura!" Mebuki burst in. "What happened?!"

"Mom!" Sakura exclaimed, relieved to see her there.

"Its alright sweetheart." Mabuki came up and hugged the fully grown woman that, in her heart, would always be her little girl. "Its okay."

"I-I'm alright mom, really..." Sakura tired to reassure her while returning the hug. "I just...had a nightmare, that's all."

Mebuki broke up the hug. "What were you dreaming about sweetie?"

The pinkette looked to the side in what appeared to be shame. "I don't feel like talking about it..."

Getting the message, Mebuki decided that the best thing she could do was to give her daughter some space. "Alright dear, just know that I'm right down the hall if you need me."

"I know mom. I love you."

"I love you too dear." With that, Mebuki shut the door behind her, leaving Sakura alone in her room.

Left alone to her thoughts, she found herself drifting back to what had happened, to the last thing she remembered since she'd blacked out at the train station this afternoon...

* * *

...

"Uhhh..."

Sakura woke up in a room she did not immediately recognize...That is, until she got a clear look at the ceiling and the white walls, at which point it became crystal clear where she was: in bed in one of her own hospital rooms.

"Mommy?"

The pinkette turned her head to see the worried face of her daughter at her bedside. Cracking the most sincere smile she could, she put on a smile and said, "Mommy's alright sweetie."

Hanami wanted to giver her mother a hug, but she was stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Hanami, could you please wait outside while the grown ups have a talk?"

"H-Hai Uncle Sasuke," she said with a noticeable sense of worry in her voice.

"I'll keep an eye on her," Shizune volunteered.

Sasuke and the others nodded as the middle aged woman escorted the girl outside of the room. That left Sakura still in bed with Sasuke, Karin, Shikamaru, Sai and Ino in the room with her. Oh, and there were two other people with her as well, her son and that mysterious boy she'd met at the train station today.

"How did I get here?" was the first question that Sakura asked.

"Sasuke and I called a stretcher to bring you here after you passed out," Karin explained.

Her feminine instincts kicking in, Sakura quickly ran her hands along her increasingly bulbous stomach.

"The baby's fine," Shikamaru said. "We had a nurse do a check up on you and they didn't find any abnormalities. But there _would_ have been if Shinachiku hadn't caught you before you hit your head on the concrete."

That was when she fully remembered everything that happened. "Where's Naruto?"

"He's back at home mom," Shinachiku spoke, making his presence known. "Grandma and grandpa took him back home after Uncle Sasuke knocked him out."

Sasuke blushed. "I, err...might have overreacted a bit."

Her memories of what happened flashed back to her. What that boy said, what her Naruto did...She could feel the tears already starting to well up in her eyes...

"Mom, dad _didn't_ cheat on you."

The woman blinked her tears away at her son's words. "What? I don't..."

"Sakura," Sai spoke up, "Shinachiku and Boruto told us everything."

"Boruto?"

Shinachiku nudged the younger blonde with his arm and pointed outwards towards his mother. Somewhat awkwardly, the boy stepped forward and approached the confused woman's bed.

"Aunt—I mean, Lady Sakura, my name is Boruto. I'm..." The boy darted his eyes back and forth before continuing, almost as if his pride left him reluctant to say anything, and he probably wouldn't have had he not heard Shinachiku clenching his fist right behind him.

"...I'm sorry about what I said. I never meant to say anything that could have gotten you hurt." His next words really had him gritting his teeth. "...Or your baby."

Sakura suddenly got angry at the boy. "Was all of this just a prank then?! Young man when I find old who your real parents are I know they will—!"

"It wasn't a joke mom." Shinachiku stepped forward. "I think...I think Boruto is from another universe, or an alternate reality, whatever sci-fi crap you want to call it! But my point, in whatever world he comes from, it's one where dad got married to Aunt Hinata instead of you."

Sakura was almost at a loss for words. "Shina, that doesn't make any sense."

"Yes, it does."

The boy then reached into his pocket and pulled out the violet chakra gems that he and his team found in that cave. It's light glowed and illuminated the entire room with it's lavender radiance.

"Mom," Shina spoke again as he held the gem out, "my team and I found this in the Land of Lightning. When I touched it there was a bright purple light, and when it passed Bolt was there with us. Both him and I were both touching the gem."

Sakura's eyes darted back and forth from her real son to this strange boy that was now standing next to him. This time, she could not find the words to say anything.

"I already looked into the boy's mind myself," Ino said. "I listened to his whole story and he answered all of our questions. He wasn't lying."

"And cat scans didn't reveal any traces of any kind of mental damage or trauma," Sai added.

"And besides," Sasuke spoke up, "we're talking about one of the chakra gems here. Godlike powers none of us can fully understand. All of these facts tell me that this boy's story, however farfetched it may seem, is most likely the truth."

Sakura turned back to the mysterious boy and looked him in the eye. He looked so much like Naruto at this boy's age that it was actually scary.

"We are still waiting for Naruto to come too so we can bring him in for a DNA test—"

"Don't bother," Sakura cut off Shikamaru. "Look at him. It's as plain as day that, wherever he's from, that Naruto is his father."

The pinkette looked down at her lap, frowning. 'And I'm not his mother...'

"Kid," Sasuke suddenly called out, getting the mysterious boy's attention.

"Yes?"

"Earlier, you called me 'uncle' and then 'sensei.' Why?"

Turning his head only briefly to Shinachiku, Bolt figured that he might as well lay everything out on the table. "Well, where I come from, you'd been training me as your student for the last few days, getting me ready for the Chūnin Exams."

Sasuke stared at the boy intently, looking for any trace of a lie...He could find none.

"I see. And why did you call me your uncle?"

"Well, I just...I don't know, you are so close to my dad and all. I guess besides my Aunt Hanabi, you and Sakura are the closest things to an aunt and uncle me and my sister have."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Karin shut everything down by waving her hands in the air. "Stop right there kid! What do you mean he and _Sakura_?"

"Umm, well..."

"Aunt Karin," Shinachiku sighed, "according to Boruto, in his world Uncle Sasuke got married to my mom instead of you. There, they are Sarada's parents...I'm sorry."

Karin let out a loud gasp. She turned to face her husband who did not have any visible reaction on his visage...at least not while she was looking.

Making eye contact with Sakura, the poor pinkette was stuck in a horrific stupor. She could say nothing, it was all too much for her to take in. It was like some kind of bad dream.

Looking back to him, she could only hear Sasuke utter one word to her. "Karin..."

The red-haired Uzumaki couldn't take it. She couldn't stand any of it. Even if it was all in another world, even if he hadn't done anything wrong, it was still too much, to soon. She threw the hospital room door wide open and ran out of the room, tears falling down her face.

"Sasuke!" Ino snapped. "What are you waiting for?! Go after her!"

"And tell her what?!" he snapped back. " _I_ did nothing wrong and she knows it. If I speak to her like she is now all it will do is make things worse."

Eyes like daggers, the Uchiha grabbed the boy that was at the heart of all of this by his shirt and hoisted him in the air. "You! Look what you've done you stupid brat!"

"Sasuke!" Sai yelled. "Put the boy down!"

"Uncle!" Shinachiku tried to interject. "Stop it!"

"Why are you defending him kid?" Sasuke snapped back. "Seems to me that ever since this kid showed up he's been nothing but trouble for all of us!"

Boruto gasped as he tried his best to speak even in Sasuke's tight grasp. "S-Sensei..."

"Don't call me that! I'm not you're sensei and I sure as **fuck** am not your uncle either!"

"Sasuke."

The Uchiha's rage then settled down when he heard the next voice speaking to him. Sakura had finally gotten her wits back, and had gotten herself out of bed no less.

"None of this is his fault. He was just telling the truth. Please, let him go."

Turning back to the boy in his grip, Sasuke just let go and dropped him to the floor.

At that point Shikamaru decided that maybe he should intervene. "Listen, until we have all of this straightened out and find a way to get this kid back to wherever he came from, I think its for the best that this remain an S-level secret, just between us and those we can trust to keep quiet."

"Who else did you have in mind?" Sai questioned.

"The way I see it, Lord Fourth and his wife are going to find out about this no matter what. Master Jiraiya, Lady Tsunade, and Kakashi ought to be allowed into the loop also."

Boruto spoke up himself. "...What about...What about my mom?"

The Nara, the Uchiha, and Sai all looked to each other in silent conversation, while the two women in the room, particularly Sakura, appeared uncomfortable with their friend's particular role in this.

"No," Shikamaru said, "I don't think telling Hinata about you would be a good idea."

"What?!" Bolt yelled in shock. "But why?!"

"Hinata has always been rather...prone to surprise and emotion. Given her past, there is no telling what might happen if she found out that you were her and Naruto's child in another world." Sai explained. "I think Kiba will take it particularly hard."

"Worse," Shikamaru added, "if word were to get out that Naruto has a child with a different woman than his wife, then the bizarre circumstances behind it are bound to get misinterpreted, and that could lead to a scandal that could cost our Hokage his title, and all rank he has as a ninja."

Bolt couldn't believe what he was hearing. "But...But she's my MOM!"

"I'm sorry Bolt," Ino tried saying sincerely, "but I think they're right about this. Remember that in this world Hinata isn't your mother. She's married to another man."

"Face it kid," Sasuke stated bluntly, "you don't exist here."

Sakura could see the poor boy's mind shatter at those last, utterly cold words. He could tell that he could hardly pay attention anymore as Shikamaru went on explaining how they could arrange for the boy to stay quarantined in an apartment inside the village until a solution to this problem could be found.

She didn't know if she should, but Sakura found herself feeling sorry for the boy...

As Shikamaru kept talking, she also found herself making eye contact with Sasuke. An intense blush spread across her face, as thoughts forcefully entered her mind that left her unable to look at him anymore.

Although, if she had paid attention for any longer, she might have caught the Uchiha avoiding eye contact with her in discomfort.

"Come on," Shikamaru said to Bolt, "I'll take you to where you'll be staying."

"No!" Bolt protested. "No! I want to see my mom!"

"I told why we can't do that."

"I don't care! I want to see her. I-I...I've had it with you people! I want to get back home! I want to see mom and Himawari again! I want out of this damned nightmare! NOW!"

The boy then shocked everybody boy pulling a spare kunai he had hidden in his sleeve! "And I'll take out any of you bastards who gets in my wa—AAGGHHH!"

The boy's maddened threat was cut short when he felt a sudden blow to the back of the neck. His weapons clanging to the floor, the boy fell face first onto said floor, the singular thought going through his mind being 'Damn you...'

As soon as the boy fell out of their sight, the adults were able to clearly see whom was responsible for this...Shinachiku.

The thing was though, as Sakura was quick to determine, her son seemed to take no pleasure in what he'd done. Making eye contact with her, his eyes seemed to say everything to his mother that his voice could not. And at the end of it, it ultimately boiled down to two simple words: 'I'm sorry...'

...

* * *

Sakura allowed her memories of that conversation, of this whole damned day, to consume her mind as she sat there in her childhood bed. There was no use holding it all in, all she could do was think of him, him, and while she loved him, and she know he loved her, right now all thinking of him could do was make her cry, her tears falling from her face onto her stomach, within which their unborn child was still growing...

'Naruto...'

* * *

Karin was back home at her and Sasuke's home sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. She was no longer crying, but her tears still stained her face, her makeup ruined. Not that she gave a damn about any of that.

It wasn't his fault, he'd done nothing wrong, she knew that. But she felt broken anyway, she couldn't help it. Even if in this world he was hers, she had to wrestle with the sudden reality that in another life he was _hers_ instead. The image of him and Sakura together, holding hands, laughing, raising a daughter, _her_ daughter, of them both in their bedroom at night in fits of passion... It was almost enough to make her vomit.

'This is so fucked up...'

Slumping further into the sofa, she could feel a single, fresh tear forming as his name ran through her brain all over again.

'Sasuke...'

* * *

Naruto was downstairs in his parlor room. He was behind the bar pouring himself a very large drink.

To say that he was feeling depressed was an understatement. He was doing what his father suggested and giving Sakura her space. Hell, for all he knew Hizashi and Mebuki were probably super pissed at him anyway.

'Gah! I wanted to ease them all into this. I wanted to avoid all of this misunderstanding... And now look where its gotten me...God this is fucked up...'

Staring at his glass, he then took a large gulp and just stared at the far wall.

'Sakura...'

* * *

Sasuke was off of work, but he wasn't at home. No, he was sitting at a local bar getting drunk.

"Here you go sir," the bartender said as he poured him a glass.

"Leave the bottle."

Shacking his head, the bartender just did as he was told and carried on with his business.

After taking a drink, the Uchiha found himself just staring at the empty glass. He was squeezing it extra hard, almost enough to make the glass crack. He may not have intended it, but he was thinking about a certain blonde haired kid as he was doing so...Of course, then the rational mind came back to him and he owned up to the truth that this Boruto kid wasn't to blame for any of this, he was just telling the truth.

'Me and Sakura...sweet Sage...' He poured himself another drink to get that image out of his head. All the while allowing her name to repeat itself over and over.

'Karin...'

* * *

Boruto woke up on top of a nice, clean bed. He was in a rather nice apartment, all on his own. His memory was quick to return and realize what all of this meant.

'You know, I am _really_ getting fed up with people knocking me out all the time!'

Quickly getting off the bed, he bolted to the door, only to find that it was locked from the outside. 'Of course.'

He then tried running over to the window, pulling the curtains back and trying to open it, seeing that it was designed to remain locked. 'Figures.'

He looked around the room for something, _anything_ he could find to help him. He found a large, heavy paperweight sitting on a desk, grabbed it, and threw it at the window with all of his strength...The window didn't even get a crack!

"Damn it!" Boruto slumped down on the carpeted floor. Shikadai's dad was right, he was in quarantine alright. In other words, he was trapped.

Thinking about his increasingly irritating situation, and about everything that happened in Sakura's hospital room, the boy could only come to a single, unalterable conclusion. 'I fucked everything up.'

* * *

Shinachiku was sitting at a table in the hospital cafeteria. He was looking at nothing as he held a single, open can of soda in his hand as it was sat upon the table, its cold, perspiring texture being of no interested to him whatsoever. Nor was the half-eaten sandwich sitting on the plate right in front of him.

No, all he could think about was how his family was falling apart ever since he found that stupid gem he had in his pocket. Sage! He wanted to just take the damned thing and chuck in into the trash and be done with it!

But no, he kept it instead. How else were they ever going to figure out how to get Bolt back home, wherever that was?

Funny, the more he thought about all of this, the more that mysterious voice from his vision kept crawling back into his mind:

 _"This universe, this world, is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and just...Others corrupt and filled with malice._

 _"Reality and time, two things, two forces, two powers, two_ _gems_ _. Both bound together by symbiosis. For one can have an indelible effect on the other, for the path of one can change the course of the other. Tell my child, have you ever made a choice in your life? Have you ever stopped to wonder what your life would be like if you hadn't made that choice?_

 _"For every choice we make, a new world, a new reality is created. Some realities as so similar to the one we call home, that one can spend a lifetime trying to track down even the slightest point of difference. Other realities are so totally different than what we call home, that they completely defy our ability to comprehend them. There are worlds where your character is completely different. Worlds where the path you follow is different. Worlds where you do not_ _exist_ _."_

'Why...Why are you doing this to me?!'

 _"To make you see...To make you understand the door the gem that has opened to you...To give you perspective...Of reality...And the universe...And how small you are in it._

 _"Who are you, in this vast multiverse, Shinachiku Uzumaki?"_

'I...I am...'

 _"You think you are the_ _only_ _son of Naruto Uzumaki? You have no idea how wrong you actually are... Perhaps I can show you?"_

'No...No...NOOOOOOO!"

Snapping back to reality, Shinachiku reaching into his picket, grabbed the gem, and was about the hurl the blasted thing at the wall!

"Oniichan?"

That voice instantly calmed him down. Putting the gem away again, he turned to the source, he saw Hanami there, with someone else very special to him at her side.

"Sarada?"

"I came here and found her with Shizune," she explained as they both approached him. "I told her I'd look after Hanami and come find you while she needed to run an errand for Lady Tsunade."

"I see."

Hanami took up a chair next to her big brother. "Oniichan, is mommy going to be alright?"

"..."

"Oniichan?"

"Yeah, yeah sis, mommy's going to be fine. Daddy too." It was a lie of course. The truth is he had no idea himself. He turned to his girlfriend. "They took Boruto away?"

"Yeah, to quarantine."

"...I really screwed up didn't I?"

"Hey," Sarada said as she came over and hugged him from behind. "None of this is your fault."

'Then whose fault is it?' he thought as his mind drifted bck to the chakra gem he still had in his pocket.

"Oniichan?"

"Hmm?"

Hanami pushed her chair over to hug his brother's waist. "I'm worried."

He returned the hug, along with Sarada. "Me too..."

...

...

...

So much love, so much pain, so much confusion on all sides. Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Karin, Shinachiku, and even Boruto...It was like the chain that was holding all of them together was breaking and none of them knew quite how to fix it...

...

...

...

 _Listen to the wind blow...  
Watch the sun rise  
Run in the shadows...  
Damn your love, damn your lies!_

 _And if you don't love me now  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
We would never break the chain  
(Never break the chain)_

 _And if you don't love me now  
(You don't love me now)  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
We would never break the chain  
(Never break the chain)_

 _Listen to the wind blow...  
Down comes the night  
Run in the shadows...  
Damn your love, damn your lies!  
Break the silence  
Damn the dark, damn the light!_

 _And if you don't love me now  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
We would never break the chain  
(Never break the chain)  
_

 _And if you don't love me now  
(You don't love me now)  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
We would never break the chain  
(Never break the chain)  
_

 _And if you don't love me now  
(You don't love me now)  
You will never love me again  
I can still hear you saying  
We would never break the chain  
(Never break the chain)_

...

...

 _Knock! Knock!_

Mebuki got up from her seat and went to the front door. Opening it, she scowled in annoyance at who was on the other side.

"Oh, its _you_."

"...Hey Mebuki. Is Sakura here?"

"She's in her room, but I don't think you should be going up there."

"What are you talking about?"

Mebuki shut the door behind her and stood before her son-in-law. "Listen Naruto," she said crossing her arms, "I like you, I really do, but this is my little girl we're talking about here. Now I don't know what kind of a fight you two must have had to make here leave home like this, but if I find out its your fault, so help me I'll—!"

"Daddy?"

The older woman was cut off when she heard the door open and saw Hanami poking her head out.

"Hanami, sweetie, go back inside—"

"Daddy!" Hanami, ever the innocent, was quick to run up to her father and hug his legs.

Naruto returned the hug. "Hi sweetheart. Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, but mommy's seems sad."

Naruto frowned. "I see..."

"Hanami, go back inside," Mebuki told her again with just a touch more force. This time, the girl took the hint and went back inside the apartment.

Mebuiki turned back to the man she feared was at the heart of all of this. "Naruto, what is this all about? Why is my daughter up in her old room _crying_?"

Naruto wanted to explain it to her so desperately, but he couldn't. To say anything to her, or anyone else, about Bolt would go against the top level secret it has wisely been declared. Besides, his mother-in-law was one of the absolute last people he needed to be getting the wrong idea right now.

"I...I can't tell you that. I'm sorry."

"What do you mean you can't tell me?"

"I'm sorry Mebuki, but it would only make things worse. Now please, I need to see Saku—AGH!"

The woman grabbed her son-in-law—her Hokage—by his shirt and glared him in the eye. "Listen to me kid, she may be your wife, but she's _my_ daughter! Now whatever's going on, you'd damn well better set it right, or there will be no place in this entire village where you can go to escape my wrath! GOT IT!"

Naruto actually gulped, his mother-in-law's temper seeming very familiar to her own daughter's. "Got it."

She roughly let him go and opened the door for him without another word. Stepping inside, he stepped through the apartment and made his way down the hall towards Sakura's room.

"Daddy?"

He stopped at the voice and put on one of his signature smiles. "Wait here sweetie, mom and dad need to have a talk. Ok?"

"'Kay."

As he continued walking, he saw Hizashi standing there with his arms crossed. The two men made eye contact; neither of them said anything, their eyes did all the talking for them.

He kept walking until he made it to a familiar door. Taking a deep breath, he knocked.

"Mom?" he heard her beautiful voice saying on the other side.

"N-No Sakura, its me."

"Naruto?"

"Yes. Can I come in? Please?"

"...Sure."

Taking the invitation, he opened the door. When he did, he saw her sitting there on her bed. Her hair was a little bit disheveled and he could tell that her face had some relatively recent tear stains lining it.

"Hi," was the best thing he could come up with to start with.

"Hi," she said back.

Closing the door behind him, he set up a quick Silencing Jutsu to ensure that nobody else in the apartment would hear what was about to be said.

"My umm...my dad told me you already know about Boruto?"

Sakura was silent for a moment before answering. "Yeah, I know."

"Well, umm...I know this must be, umm, _awkward_ for you right now...me too. But Sakura, you have to understand that I would never—"

"Oh stop it Naruto! You know I can't be mad a you!"

"I do?"

She groaned in irritation. "Look, I get it. You, this version of you, isn't that boy's father. But some _other_ Naruto, in some _other_ world, is his father, and I'm not his mother. Hinata is."

"But—"

"Hinata, the girl we could all tell had a crush on you since she you two were kids."

"But—"

"The girl this version of you dated only once before you and I confessed our love and _our_ Hinata stepped aside for us to be together."

"Sakura—"

"And me, that version of me is with Sasuke instead of you, and Sarada is _my_ daughter instead of Karin's. Is that right?!"

"...Yeah, that pretty much covers it."

Sakura put her head in her hand. "You, the boy, Hinata...I can't be mad at anybody here. None of us did anything wrong."

"Then what is the matter? Why did you cry?"

The pinkette said nothing.

"Sakura?"

She turned back to face him slowly. "I had a dream...I had come home and went to our room..."

"And?"

She almost couldn't bring herself to say it out loud. "...And you were there...with her."

The blonde's eyes widened in horror as she continued.

"You two...you were nude. She was on top of you. She was yelling out loud as you made love...The same way _we_ always do."

"Sakura—"

"You two...you kept going. She was getting close, it was obvious. I wanted to leave, I was desperate to leave...but my body couldn't move...I...I had to watch...I had to watch all of it."

She broke down, crying, but she wiped her eyes and her nose because, and much as it hurt, she still had more to say. "You...you both came...She fell upon you and you held her...And then she...she..."

Naruto, horrified, dared to question her. "She did what?"

"...She looked towards the crack in the door. She looked towards me...and she _smiled_. Then you did the same. You both _knew_ I was there! You knew and you did it anyway!"

"..."

"And then..." Sakura felt like she was going to throw up in her mouth. "...And then you did it again, this time facing me! I could see everything!"

"Sakura, please—"

"And...and then _Sasuke_ showed up—"

"Enough!" Naruto snapped. "I don't want to hear any more of this! I would never do that to you! I could never even _think_ of doing that to you! I _love_ you! And you _know_ that!"

"OF COURSE I DO!"

The silence was long...very long. Neither one of them could come up with anything to say. Sakura felt tears forming in her eyes again.

"Naruto..."

"Yes?"

She got off her bed and practically ran into his arms, crying into his chest and grabbing onto his shirt. "Promise me."

"What?"

"Promise me these gems, this boy, Taka, all of it... Promise me it won't destroy us?"

Without a moment's hesitation, he wrapped his arms possessively around her and planted a soft kiss upon her forehead. "I promise..."

* * *

About a days journey away from the Hidden Leaf Village, a familiar foe in a hooded cloak made his trek along the forest floor. He wasn't leaping from the treetops, nor was he taking any advantage of his ninja speed. He was just walking, as leisurely as if he were on holiday. After all, he had all the time in the world.

As the figure walked, he felt around inside of his pocket, his fingers wrapping around a small orange jewel, one that glowed with a shining vermilion light.

'It's about time Nine-Tails,' the stranger said to himself. 'It's about time...'

* * *

Hmm...this doesn't seem too good, does it?

Well, that was the end of the chapter, and I have to say, this is probably the darkest, most depressing thing I have written so far on this site. There will definitely be some bigger, most exciting things to come in the future, but here I felt I needed to take a time out to really get into the heads of all the characters and address the kind of turmoil that Boruto's arrival has caused them. It's not that Boruto is some kind of hellspawn that exists to destroy their lives, but just his being here, in a universe where he is not supposed to exist, is naturally causing some extreme discomfort for everyone. Seriously, if you all of a sudden discovered the existence of an alternate reality where your best friend married and had children with your lover instead off you, wouldn't that make things really awkward for a while?

The song in this chapter is called "The Chain" by Fleetwood Mac. You may have heard it recently on the soundtrack to "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2." I felt it was a good song choice to address the kind of fracturing of both the Uzumaki and the Uchiha families at this point in the story, similar to how it was used to highlight how the Guardians were seemingly on the verge of breaking apart in that film. I also made the intentional choice not to include the final part of the song here, for reasons that may or may not pay off in future chapters.

Not any pop culture references to talk about in this chapter, but there is something I wanted to speak to all of you guys about. You see, Sakura's nightmare...I did at one point consider maybe including that in this chapter. I quickly rejected it and instead reduced it to her describing it to him for two reasons: first, because forcing her to recount it herself would make it feel even more devastating, and second, because I did not want to story to be bumped up to an M rating just because of one scene.

That being said, I might be open to turning that nightmare into a one shot story in its own right, sort of a deleted scene from "Shinachiku's Next Adventure." But, if I do produce that, it will definitely be the darkest thing I have ever written. For that reason, I have decided to leave it up to you whether or not I should write the scene or not. Feel free to leave a comment on whether or not you would like to see the nightmare scene in a one shot or not.

I think that's all I have to say for this one. Thank you all so much for reading, and I look forward to seeing you back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	10. Chapter 10--Times Are A-Changin, Part I

Hey there everybody, thesaiyanjedi back again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Once again I apologize for the delay, but this chapter was going to see a lot of my simultaneous running plot lines coming together, so I needed to think this chapter over before I put it out there. In addition to that, you are finally going to see some action involving at least one of our lead characters, so you can look forward to that.

So, with that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 10: The Times They Are A-Changin', Part I**

"MASTER!"

The doors to their secret hideout flung open as Boi sprang into his master's private quarters in a state of utter and complete panic.

Sugure was currently in a closed meeting with his two highest ranking officers, the twins. Geki stood at his right side and Burai at his left, a symbolic representation of the their place at their master's side.

"Boi," Sugure spoke. "This is a closed meeting. Please wait outside."

"Gomen master, but I have urgent news—"

"Boi!" Geki shouted. "The master gave you an order!"

"But Mei and I encountered a group of a group of bandits in the bar this afternoon. They said—"

"BOI!" Burai shouted even more sternly than his brother, walking up the youngest of their brotherhood with a knife drawn. "Get out of here before I cut off your—!"

"They spoke about finding one of the chakra gems!"

 **"Hold!"**

Sugure held up his hand in silent gesture. Burai backed off and put his weapon away.

"Alright Boi, you have my attention son," the man in white spoke again more calmly. "Please, come here and tell us what exactly you and Mei encountered in the bar."

...

* * *

...

"Ugh!" the woman in pink complained. "I want a nice warm bath so bad right now!"

"We have our orders," the teenager in yellow told her. "Goushi told us specifically that the master wanted us to scope out this town for any traces of Taka or Union platoons and probe them for leads on the gems."

"Yeah, but we've ambushed and probed at least two dozen shinobi so far before erasing their memories. Can't we at least take a break for a little while?"

"Why do you think I found us this bar? Stop complaining and enjoy your drink."

Mei smirked as she picked up her glass. "At least I can enjoy a drink. Superior being on not, you're still too young to fool the bartender."

Boi huffed and turned his head while folding his arms in a very childlike manner...But as his head was turned he saw a bunch of bandits sitting at a nearby table. They were loud, rude, and obviously drunk off their rockers, but he could still make out what they were saying.

"Right, I say we slip this into the Mizukage's coffee and then hold him hostage with a knife to his throat," one of the bandits suggested as he held up a clearish red vial.

"Put that away you idiot!" one of the other bandits insisted. "You want somebody here to catch us with that stuff?!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen," the leader of the bandits spoke. "We need not waste time with this debate. Look, one vial of this isn't going to get us far enough to make any real score. That's why I suggest we travel to Konoha and capture Lady Tsunade or that former apprentice of her's and force her to produce more of this stuff."

"But Shojoji," one of the bandits interjected, "Lady Tsunade only made an antidote to the serum, not the serum itself."

"If that old hag is smart enough to come up with an antidote to this stuff, then she's smart enough to make more of the stuff itself." Shojoji narrowed his eyes at his fellow missing nin. "Or does anybody else have any objections?"

None of the other bandits said a word as their leader continued. "Very good. I say we start heading for Konoha first thing tomorrow morning."

One of the other bandits dared to speak up next. "I do hope this plan works Shojoji, after all the work we put into paying our client."

"Let that rat Mizuki have his fun with his glowing orange jewel. We can settle perfectly fine with this here."

Boi's eyes widened at what he'd just heard. 'Glowing orange jewel?! Could it be?!'

"Boi?"

"SHH!" The young man silenced his comrade as he kept listening in.

What neither one of the two superhumans realized that they were not the only people in the bar listening in of this conversation. At another table, two rather rugged and unsavory looking ninja from the Hidden Mist Village were also paying close attention...

"You don't suppose it's true do you?" one of the bandits asked. "I mean, can that thing really turn back time?"

"Who cares?!" the most drunk of the bandits protested. "We've got it pretty good the way we are now, and if that Mizuki guy can go back and get rid of that Uzumaki bastard, then all the better to him!"

"We can talk about this later," Shojoji stated. "Right now lets just order one more round and then get out of here."

Having heard enough, Boi turned back to Mei. "Follow those men as soon as they leave."

"Why?"

"Because our master's life may depend on it..."

...

* * *

...

Sugure's fist clenched as Boi recounted his story. This was the absolute worst news he could have possibly heard right now!

"And what happened then?" Geki questioned.

"Mei and I trailed the bandits back to their hideout and we interrogated them."

Burai shook his head in dismissal. "Those men were drunk. They probably made the whole thing up."

"No," Boi assured them. "Mei looked into all of their minds herself. Everything they were saying was the truth. This Mizuki person, whoever he is, has one of the chakra gems and he is heading towards Konoha right now. By the way..." he reached into his pocket and pulled out the two vials that he had recovered from the bandits and handed them to Geki. "Hare are the vials of serum that we 'appropriated' from them."

"AAAAHHHH!"

In a sudden fit of rage, Sugure picked up the table they were working at like it was a softball and hurled it across the room, causing it to smash and break apart as it left a hole in the wall.

That action caused a hushed silence to wash over everyone in the room, but the youngest of them, Boi, was the most terrified.

Taking a deep breath, Sugure recomposed himself and turned back to his youngest follower. "Boi?"

"H-Hai master?"

"You did the right thing bringing this to my attention. Where are those bandits now?"

"They gave us everything we needed to know, but then they were disrespectful to us. So we killed them all master."

"I see.." The man in white went into deep thought. "And did they give you any idea how far away Mizuki was from Konoha?"

"Their leader said that he was going to be walking the whole way. That was two days ago. I estimate him to be about a day away by now."

"..."

"Master?" Geki questioned his leader.

"Geki, Burai, you two are in charge until I get back."

"Get back?" Burai asked.

"Hai. I will deal with this myself..."

* * *

Naruto was is his office filing paperwork as usual. Even with all of the insanity of the last few days, he still had his responsibilities to his village that he needed to take care of. That was the price that you needed to pay to be the Hokage.

Sakura was back at her own job too. They were able to patch things up (mostly) and come to an understanding. There was still an understandable level of awkwardness that hung in the air between the two of them, what with Boruto and all, but they had worked it out and came to an understanding that they would work together with the others to figure out what to do about it. After all, they both came up with a fitting lie to explain things to her parents. He knew she hated to do it, but neither Hizashi nor Mebuki had access to this S-rank secret.

For Naruto's part, he found himself wondering what his real son was up to right now. Was he at the grounds training with Konohamaru? Was he keeping Hanami company? Was he on a date with Sarada?

And what about Boruto? The poor kid was being kept in quarantine this whole time and he felt bad for him...But the risk was too great. Nobody else could know that he was here, especially not—

 _KNOCK! KNOCK!_

"Come in," Naruto said.

The door opened and in stepped a young adult with long, dark brown hair that reached beyond the middle of his back and framed his face. The man had very fair skin and possessed the renowned kekki genki of his clan, a pair of dazzling white eyes with a slight tint of lavender to them. Rather than the traditional robes of his clan, he was dressed in standard Konohagakure attire with a flak jacket, and a Konoha Alliance's forehead protector. His demeanor was calm, confident, and mature, but still overall fairly serious.

The shinobi stood at attention. "Mission report, Lord Hokage."

"Hey Neji," Naruto said as he stood up. "I haven't see you in a couple of days."

"No Lord Seventh. My Jōnin squad had been out in the field for a month investigating the mission you've assigned to us, sir."

"I did?" It took a couple of seconds for the blonde's memory to come back. "Oh right, I did order that. Sorry, I kind of zoned out for a second there."

The recently resurrected Hyūga prodigy eyed his old friend and current leader suspiciously. "Are you all right Naruto?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I just..." He paused to find the right world for a moment. "...I've just had a lot on my mind for the last few days."

"Hmm...Well, I suppose Sandosupai's acquittal must have been a personal blow for you."

Naruto was happy to go along with his old friend's misinterpretation. After all, it was still true. "Well, the great thing about Taka is that they keep giving you second chances."

Neji smirked. "I suppose so."

With that moment of levity over with, Naruto got himself serious again. "Report, Neji."

"Lord Seventh," the Hyūga began, "We have investigated multiple leads into the reports of drugs spread throughout the Land of Fire that have been spiked with Taka's red chakra serum. We were successful in appropriating multiple shipments of the drugs and arrested the criminals responsible, but interrogation into them has revealed no apparent allegiance to Taka."

"Damn!" Naruto cursed. "Well, at least those drugs are off the street. I don't want to see another news story coming like what happened with that Shida kid a few weeks ago."

"In speaking of which," Neji remembered, "I remember that journalist blabbering to _Konoha Tonight_ about Mizuki breaking out last year."

"Yeah," Naruto slumped. "The Elders and I were pretty pissed off about that, and even more pissed at those Anbu that spoke to him about it."

"And?"

"And what? It got out there, the old hags chewed my ass out about it, as usual, and now we need to concentrate of getting Mizuki behind bars again, on top of everything else on my never ending list of problems."

" _You_ were the one who wouldn't shut up about how much you wanted to become the Hokage, you know."

Naruto chuckled. "I never took you as being one for making jokes."

"I wasn't, I was just stating the truth. This concludes my report, Lord Seventh."

"Very well old friend, you are dismissed."

"Hai."

As the Hyūga turned and was about to open the door, Naruto stood up and stopped him. "Hey Neji?"

He stopped and turned back around. "Yes?"

"Y'know, its really too bad that you and I haven't gotten the chance to spend must time together since, well, y'know..."

"Since I was resurrected by Taka and broke free of their mind control?"

"Yeah...that... Anyway, I was just wondering if, maybe when you had some free time, we could stop and get a drink or something? It'd be a good chance to catch up on old times."

"I have a lot of work that needs to be done Lord...But I do suppose that would be nice."

Naruto smiled. "Awesome."

Feeling comfortable, Neji walked back up to his friends desk. "I have to admit, it hasn't been easy to adjust to my new surroundings. I mean, I've been _dead_ for seventeen years. Uncle, Hinata, Guy-sensei, Lee, Tenten, you...everyone else has grown up, but I'm still so young. I can tell I'm nowhere near as strong as I used to be either."

"Don't say that man, I hear you've been training your ass off every chance you get."

"Yes, but I can tell it's not enough. I'm seventeen years behind the rest of you. Your parents came back to life too, but they're both retired, and Master Jiraiya is one the Sannin. But me...I'm just a former Hyūga prodigy who's lost his edge."

The blonde scowled in annoyance. "Only with that kind of attitude you are."

"Excuse me?"

"What did I tell you a long time ago? I don't believe in any of that preordained destiny crap! You have the power to make your life whatever you want it to be! Look at me. People have told me my whole life the I would never become Hokage, that I would always be nothing but dead last. And look at me now."

Neji got a hold of himself again. "Yes, look at you now. Domo arigato Naruto."

"Any time old buddy."

Neji walked back to the door and opened it, but before leaving the office, he turned back around. "You know, its almost too bad that things didn't work out between you and Hinata. In another life the two of us could have been family."

As Neji finally left, those last few words sent a cold shiver up the Orange Hokage's spine. 'Yeah...me and Hinata...in another life...'

The creepy images of that family he almost could have had, and memories of that nightmare Sakura had told him about the other day, were discarded quickly enough when he sensed a familiar presence. "You might as well come inside. I can sense your smugness clear as day Pervy Sage."

The window opened and in stepped an old man with waist-length, spiky white hair that he kept tied back into a pony tail, with two shoulder-length bangs that framed the sides of his face. The red lines that ran down from his eyes made his identity unmistakable, as did the wart on the left side of his nose and the Gama tattoo on his left palm. The old man wore a horned forehead protector with the kanji for 'Oil', along with a green short shirt kimono and matching pants; under which was a mesh armor showing out of the sleeves and legs of his outfit. He also wore hand guards, a simple black belt, a pair of geta, a red haori with two simple yellow circles on each side, and a giant scroll on his back.

"Are you _ever_ going to start calling me that?"

"Stop pestering me and Sakura about our love life to use as research for your next book, and I _think_ about it." The blonde swiveled his chair to face his old master. "So what do you want?"

"Hey! That's no way for a student to address his master."

"Since when have you and I _ever_ had the typical master-student relationship old man?"

"Touché." Taking a deep breath, the Sannin decided to get right to the point. "Naruto, I wanted to talk to you about what's going on between you and your wife."

"Hey! I just told you—!"

"No you fool! I was talking about the situation with you-know-who."

Naruto quickly realized what that meant, so he then stood up and made a series of hand signs. "SILENCING JUTSU!"

With the barrier in place, master and student were free to have open conversation and Naruto took a seat back at his desk.

"Naruto," Jiraiya started, "I know that this boy being here must be awkward for you two."

'That's putting it lightly,' the blonde rolled his eyes.

"But nevertheless," the old man continued, "do you really think that locking him up in an apartment this whole time is what's best for him?"

The blonde groaned. "First of all, Shikamaru made that decision, not me. Second of all, you know full well why it has to be this way."

"Yes, but do you think _he_ understands? Would _you_ have understood at his age?"

"...Where are you going with this?"

"I'm saying, maybe there is a better way to handle this?"

Naruto put his head in his hand. "You think I haven't been racking my brain about this? I'd like nothing better than for him to live a comfortable life here until we figure out how the get him back home. But if anybody finds out it would just cause problems that neither I, nor my family, nor the village need right now."

The Toad Sage folded his arms. "Putting the needs of the village ahead of his huh? From what I've been told, that's exactly what this boy hates about his father."

"If you don't have anything useful to say old man, I think you'd better go. I have work to do."

Jiraiya stood there for a moment before shaking his head in disappointment. Walking passed his former pupil, he went back to the window he'd come in through and stopped just long enough to say, "I was good talking to you again Naruto. Take good care of you son...both of them."

Naruto was about to retort before his old master leaped out the window. Feeling overwhelmed with grief, he found his mind drifting to the mysterious blonde haired boy with whiskers like his own. 'Bolt, I'm sorry, but you just don't understand what kind of trouble you could cause if anyone finds out who you are...'

* * *

Boruto was resting on the bed that had been provided for him. He got bored with what was on television so he just found himself staring up at the ceiling with his head on a pillow.

'Man, this sucks...'

The boy also found his mind drifting again, back to his home, back to his _real_ family...

 _KNOCK! KNOCK!_

Bolt's body shot up in alarm. That was the first sound from outside of the apartment that he'd heard all day. "Who's there?!"

"It's Sai," the voice on the other side said. "Lord Hokage sent me because he wanted to make sure you were fed."

The gears in the boy's minds began turning in earnest. "You sayin' you got me some food?"

"Hai."

"Are you alone?"

"Hai. Why?"

"No reason..."

"Just stay where you are, I'll unlock the door."

The boy's eyes darted back to the heavy paperweight he'd tried to break the window with earlier. Reacting quickly, he rushed over to the table it was sitting on and snatched, it, going right back to his spot on the bed and sitting back on it again.

"Okay, come in." His voice trying to sound as innocent as possible.

The door opened and Sai came in with a tray of food. Setting it down on the table he explained to the boy: "Alright, you have fried chicken, mashed potatoes, fried rice, barbecued carrots and we even threw in a cup of mochi ice cream for you. Oh, and a can of soda pop for you also."

Bolt got up from the bed to look at his meal. "Gee, that sure looks great. Thank you so much."

"Oh you are perfectly welcome. I will let the Hokage know that you enjoyed your—"

 _WHACK!_

Sai was on the ground with a _really_ hard blow to the head! Bolt had whacked him in with the paperweight. It was not enough to make the Anbu pass out, but that was why Bolt was on top of him in a heartbeat, before he had time to fully recover from such a precise blow. He leaped onto the pale skinned ninja and cupped his hands over his nose and mouth, cutting off his air. Despite Sai having the superior weight advantage, he was still dizzy and Bolt was using all of his strength to subdue him. Before too long, the lack of air was too much and the former Root ninja passed out on the floor.

Getting up, he took pity on the ninja. 'Sorry Sai, but I had no choice. Please don't tell Inojin about this.'

Rushing over to the door, he found that his hunch was right, Sai was waiting until he left to lock the door from the outside.

Not thinking twice, he rushed out the door slamming it shut and locked it himself, trapping the Anbu inside...What the boy did _not_ know was that inside the apartment, said Anbu was melting all over the carpet into a gelatinous glob of black ink.

...

On top of a small building overlooking the streets of the city, the real Sai had been alerted to what had happened as soon as his ink clone dissolved, the clone's memories flooding back to him instantaneously. He knew that sending in a clone to feed the boy was a wise idea; even if it was an Anbu Black Op versus a mere Genin, there was no need to risk it.

Quickly pulling out his scroll and brush, he made a quick doodle followed by a few hand signs. "NINJA ART: SUPER BEAST IMITATING DRAWING!"

His drawing rose off of the page and came to life. It was a large eagle, one large enough to carry its creator's own weight.

"Alright," Sai said as he mounted the bird, "let's hurry and find the boy."

The ink eagle took to the skies as both it and it's creator peered down from above to scan the streets for any sign of Boruto. Reasoning that he could not have gotten too far from where his quarantine apartment was located, that was the path he searched first.

It was roughly twenty minutes before Sai finally got lucky and saw a familiar head of blonde as bright as his own friend running through the city streets in a desperate panic. The boy was in such a rush that he was bumping into dozens of people, irritating them all and he took no time to apologize. No, all that mattered to him was that he got to wherever he was headed.

Taking control of his ink bird, Sai commanded it to fly them both down to the street level. They needed to get ahead of the boy in order to cut him off.

Boruto kept running. He needed to find her. He didn't care what anybody else said or thought, he needed to find her!

But then he saw the giant black and white bird fly come down and cut him off right in the middle of the street. Onlookers couldn't help but take notice of the scene, even though they had no clue what any of it meant.

"You!" Bolt cried out in shock. "But I thought—?"

"That was an ink clone boy," Sai explained as he disembarked from his ink bird. "I made it just in case of a situation like this. Now come, lets get you back into quarantine before we make a scene—"

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Four puffs of smoke appeared around the boy, out of which came four clones identical to the boy himself. On the sidelines, the growing crowd of people started to watch in curiosity at the unexpected scene taking place.

'Damn,' Sai cursed. 'This is most unfortunate.'

"Boy," the pale ninja spoke aloud, 'don't do anything foolish. I am a Jōnin and a member of the Anbu Black Ops. You cannot win this—"

"AAAHHH!"

The real Boruto charged at Sai with a fury and was about to make contact. Sai was not daunted by this, until all of a sudden the boy leapt clean over the Jōnin's head out of nowhere.

'What?' Sai though to himself in shock. 'Such speed for his age...'

Bolt landed behind his would-be captor and attempted a kick at the adult's legs. Sai was quick enough to dodge...but he was not quick enough to dodge the sudden punch to the face that came from one of the boy's shadow clones, nor the punch to the gut that another clone dealt less just a microsecond later.

Sai got up off the ground as quick as he could, but he was still recovering from shock. 'Incredible. Such speed and agility for his age, and such natural usage of shadow clones. He must truly be his father's son...I'd better end this quickly.'

Whipping out his scroll, he hastily drew another sketch and brought it to life. It was a large lion-like creature that roared to life as it stalked it's prey.

'Crap!' Boruto cursed in his head. 'I don't have time for this! I've got to get out of here! Screw it!'

Running with his shadow clones at his side, Boruto dashed directly towards the rampaging beast. But then the clones got in front of him as the beast proceeded to leap upwards into the air, ink claws drawn. The clones each leapt up onto each outer, one on top of the other. The real Boruto was at the peak, and from that high vantage point, he jumped over the body of the beast as it was coming downwards and crushing the clones, causing them all to dissipate in puffs of smoke.

Sai himself was standing close enough to the action that Boruto was able to complete his plan. He flipped around in mid air over the adult ninja's form and grabbed a kunai from his belt. Turning around to face the galloping beast, he leaped aside of the strike in the knick of time and cut a deep gash straight across the beast's body. This caused the ink beast to roar in pain before it broke apart and turned into a lump of ink all over the street.

Sai was not about to allow the boy to utilize this momentary opening and was quick to attempt to incapacitate him as soon as his creation was destroyed. But to his shock, the boy was quick to counter him, blocking his arm with smooth, almost spiral moments, before settling into a fighting stance.

'That form,' Sai noted the boy stance. 'Of course, with his bloodline, he would have to received that style of training.'

But, unbeknownst to Sai, he was not the only one looking upon the scene. Amongst the crowd gathered on the streets, a skilled Jōnin shinobi was paying special attention to this mysterious boy's choice of form...as well as his suspiciously familiar appearance.

The boy came at Sai with flat footed posture and with his fist facing flat and straight out for solid, hard strikes. The Anbu was surprised how much effort he was needing to put into facing this mere Genin, but as he dodged, he also took note of something suspicious.

'Curious, he is clearly trained in the Gentle Fist fighting style, yet his eyes appear totally normal. Without the Byakugan, he is failing to properly target any of my tenketsu.'

Boruto kept up his Gentle Fist barrage and then, after a successful kick to the gut, the boy started gathering his chakra into his hands. Sai was stunned, he knew this technique well. It was very small by comparison, but it was undeniably the legendary jutsu invented by Lord Fourth Hokage himself and later mastered by his son.

"Take this bastard! RASENGAN!"

That was when something happened that was truly shocking. While Naruto was prone to charging head on with the technique in hand (save for its shuriken form), the boy instead chose to throw the jutsu at him like a softball...

...But then, while it was in velocity, the jutsu itself just disappeared before his eyes!

"What?!"

Sai had seen Naruto display many form of the Rasengan in all the years they'd known each other, but **never** had he seen the jutsu disappear before! And it was **only** because he was as familiar with the Rasengan as he was that he refused to take any chances and moved his body out of the calculated attack range.

However, by instinctively doing so, that caused the invisible jutsu to collide with a nearby building and explode upon impact, causing noticeable debris to fall and nearly injure a number of nearby civilians.

Boruto was stunned at what he'd just done. "Oh Sage! I'm sor—AGH!"

Boruto's statement was cut off when he sensed another presence approaching at full ninja speed. Sai was looking straight at the boy in that moment and that was when one more strange thing happened that he could not explain...

For a split second, Sai could have swore he saw something. Something strange in the boy's right eye. It looked featureless but the sclera darkened around the pupil.

'What...What kind of dōjutsu is that...?'

The boy's head turned, almost as though his eye was tracking something, something that the Anbu was not able to see.

"EIGHT TRIGRAMS: SIXTY-FOUR PALMS!"

The ninja watching the battle from the street had seen enough of the boy's abilities. Now he was ready to act. Using his clan's signature fighting style, the same style that the boy himself had been using, he was able the pinpoint the majority of the boy's chakra network and incapacitate it.

One final blow and it was all over. The boy's chakra was no longer available to him. The fight was done.

"Hey!" Boruto screamed. "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

The stranger stepped up the boy and pushed him rudely to the ground. "I am the one who should be asking that question. Where were you trained in the fighting style of the Hyūga clan?"

"I **AM** from the Hyūga clan!"

Something snapped in the mysterious ninja. He got so angry that he literally grabbed the boy and picked him up by his throat!

"Ghh! Let...me...go..."

"Neji!"

The prodigy of the Hyūga clan turned his head in the direction of his friend. "Explain this!" Neji demanded.

"I...I can't...N-Naruto's orders..."

Neji turned back to the boy and studied his face even closer. The resemblance to not one, but two people he knew so intimately only made his blood boil that much worse.

"You!" He yelled at the boy. "What is your name?!"

"B-B-Bor..."

"Answer me! What is your name?!"

"NEJI! STOP!"

Time froze around everyone and everything. Neji, Sai, the boy, they all turned in shock at the unexpected voice. For one of the three, it was exactly the voice he had been longing to hear for so long. For another of them, it was the worst possible voice that could have reared its head in that moment.

Standing there on the street was a beautiful woman in her mid thirties. The woman was fair skinned and had a head of dark blue hair and bangs cut to shoulder length. Her eyes were the same as Neji's, pale white with a tinge of lavender. She wore a maroon jacket with a dark purple shirt and a cream colored skirt with a pair of knee high ninja boots.

The woman looked deathly concerned about the scene before her. She had only just gotten there and there she was seeing her cousin threatening some poor boy...

Boruto felt his world go away and he nearly choked up at the sight of her. "Mom..."

The boy's voice was too quiet and strained for the woman to hear him, but Neji certainly did. His mind began racing, putting the pieces together in his head, but almost refusing to accept the obvious conclusion.

"You!" Neji screamed at the boy again. "You're coming with us!"

* * *

'Bolt, I'm sorry, but you just don't understand what kind of trouble you could cause if anyone finds out who you are...'

The door to the Hokage's office slammed open as a Leaf ninja burst in with a sense of dread in his voice. "Lord Seventh! We have an emergency!"

"What is it?"

"Reports are coming in that Captain Sai of the Anbu Black Ops has engaged in open battle with a Genin in the middle of the city and that the child somehow defeated him in battle sir!"

 **"WHAT?!"**

"Yes sir! The reports claim that the boy was adept in using the Gentle Fist style of the Hyūga clan my lord. They also claim that the child knows how to use the Rasengan sir!"

"..."

"It's all over the news," the ninja went on. "The boy used the Rasengan and it caused an explosion in the middle of the city. Dozens of people nearly got hurt."

"...Is Captain Sai in control of the situation now?"

"No sir. According to reports, Neji Hyūga has taken the boy into his own custody."

Naruto could feel a cold sweat go down his neck. 'Dammit!'

"Should we send a Jōnin squad to the scene sir? Perhaps get an identification on the child—?"

" _No!_ " Naruto practically screamed in a rush. "No, that won't be necessary."

The Orange Hokage then turned to the window of his own office, the very same window that his master had used to go in and out of just a moment ago. "Inform Lady Shizune to hold all my appointments and calls for now until I get back."

"Where are you going my lord?"

"To deal with this myself..."

* * *

Shinachiku Uzumaki and Sarada Uchiha were coming off of their lunch date at a local takoyaki restaurant with full stomachs. Walking side by side, Sarada noticed something troubling about the boy's face.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"Huh?" Shina was brought back out of his thoughts. "Oh, its nothing."

The Uchiha girl frowned. "You never were very good at lying to me."

He sighed. "I just have my mind on other things, that's all."

"You're thinking about _him_ again, aren't you?"

"...Can you blame me?"

"I can when you and I are supposed to be on a date."

"Fine, fine. I just...Agh! I don't even know anymore."

Sarada looped her arm around his own and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Hey, no more of that. Just put that kid out of your mind and focus on you and me for right now. Besides, he's in quarantine now, so what's the worst that could happen?"

Shinachiku smiled. "Maybe you're right."

As the two kid kept walking they were oblivious to the world around them, so they were not aware of an adult man heading in their path wearing a hooded cloak.

"By the way," Shina spoke again, "where are Mitsuki and Muon anyway?"

"I think Mitsuki said something about paying a visit to the library."

"And Muon?" The boy then remembered who it was he was talking about. "Right, he didn't say any—OFH!"

But they did as soon as Shinachiku accidentally bumped into him, knocking the boy to the floor along with the girl that was on his arm, and the hooded man as well.

"Ouch!" Sarada said as she rubbed her now sore backside.

"Are you alright?" Shina asked her in concern.

"Yeah, I'm alright." She accepted her boyfriend's hand to help her back up again.

The two kids immediately went over to the stranger and offered their help.

"I'm so sorry about that sir," Shina apologized, offering up his hand to help the man up. "I'm usually a lot more alert than that. I don't know what came over me."

The man in the cloak got a look at the boy and then, out of nowhere, batted his hand away as though it were diseased. "Just watch where you're walking next time brat!"

Both of the kids were taken aback by that unexpected outburst. But as the man was getting back up, Shinachiku was able to get a glimpse of the man's face beneath his hood. The boy found himself staring at him. He had never seen this man before, but something about the way he looked seemed somehow familiar...

Sarada folded her arms as he walked away. "Jeez! What a jerk! It was just a mistake, no need to tear our heads off!"

Shina shook his head clear of distraction. "Yeah, yeah you're right."

"Hey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright. Come on, we'd better hurry if we're going to make it to that movie you wanted to see."

Just as they were starting to walk again, Shina suddenly heard an alert go off on his cell phone. Pulling it out of his pocket, he saw that he had gotten an email.

"What is it?" Sarada asked.

"It's from Jōkā."

"Huh? What does he want?"

"Let me see."

Shinachiku scrolled his eyes across his phone as he read his teammate's unusually lengthy message. Taking in what was being told to him, his eyes bulged wide. The realization of the identity of the man he had just bumped into had sent a shockwave of horror through his body.

"Sarada!" Shinachiku suddenly snapped into serious mode. "Get your phone out and call Mitsuki and Muon! Tell them both to drop what they're doing and to come and join us right now! Tell them that's an order!"

"Huh? But what about—?"

"There's no time! We need to find that guy we saw earlier and we need to find him fast!"

"Why?"

"Because he has the next chakra gem! And unless we catch up to him, my dad's life may be in terrible danger!"

...

* * *

...

 _Twenty minutes earlier..._

Back in the Land of Iron, Jōkā was in his room working on his laptop computer. He was going over leads that his team, as well as his master's, had been scouring in relation to the location of the chakra gems.

It had only been a couple of days since the Seventh Hokage showed up at their base and he took both his son and the mysterious boy they'd found inside the cave back with him to Konohagakure.

That left Shikadai in charge while their captain was away. Normally Sarada was the second in command, but she chose to go back to the Leaf Village with her boyfriend...No surprise there. Before he left, Shinachiku had requested two additional members of the squad to accompany them in case of an emergency that required back up. Jōkā had eagerly volunteered himself, since it would have allowed him to remain close to both the strange boy and, more importantly, to the chakra gem they'd recovered. But instead Shinachiku chose to take that weird albino Mitsuki and that creepy mute Muon with him instead...Sweet Sage Jōkā hated those two!

Forced to maintain his cover, the double agent pretended to humbly accept his captain's decision. But that meant that the most useful thing he could do for his master was to carefully go over all of his leads for any more clues to some of the other gems.

That was what he was doing when he all of a sudden got a transmission on his laptop from his master.

 _"Are you alone?"_

Double checking that his door was locked and that there was nothing else suspicious going on around him, he typed _"Yes."_

The message appeared on the screen. _"I have received a report from two of our agents from the Hidden Mist Village. They claim to have overheard a group of bandits in a bar bragging about finding one of the chakra gems. They said they sold it to someone in exchange for two vials of our serum."_

This alarmed the young spy instantly. He hastily began typing. _"Do we have proof to confirm these claims? Did the agents interrogate the bandits?"_

After a moment, more text appeared. _"No. The bandits were found murdered at their own hideout. Those responsible are unknown."_

'Fuck!' The Chūnin cursed inside his head before typing again. _"What do we know about the person they sold the gem to?"_

More text appeared. _"His name is Mizuki, a former ninja from Konohagakure. He was arrested and stripped of rank after an act of treachery by him was thwarted by Naruto Uzumaki."_

 _"Does that mean what I think it means master?"_

 _"Yes, and that is why he must be stopped."_

 _"What do you mean? Without Uzumaki, that will make things so much easier."_

 _"Or it could change things so much that Taka will never exist, you fool!"_

Jōkā stared at his computer for a moment before typing again. _"Where is Mizuki now?"_

More text appeared. _"Our reports say he is heading to Konoha. He should have arrived in the village by now. Neither you or I can reach him in time."_

 _"So then what do we do?"_

 _"That boy you and your squad found in that cave. You said he appeared after you found the violet chakra gem? And that he claims to be Uzumaki's son from another world?"_

 _"Yes."_

There was a long pause before the mysterious master replied again. _"Then listen to me very carefully..."_

* * *

At Konoha train station, passengers were disembarking. They were gathering their luggage and exiting the train to go to the platform to meet with their loved ones.

Among the crowd was a mysterious stranger wearing a white outfit with a white robe.

'I must find him. The fate of the new order depends upon it...'

* * *

Oh boy, this is getting intense! As I said, everything is starting to come together now, and the end result of the next chapter will change everything...in more ways than one.

As far as pop culture references, nothing much to talk about here. But I would like to say that I had to do my research in choreographing the Boruto vs Sai battle. Going off of his Narutopedia page, Boruto actually is a really strong fighter for his age, and he has a few unique abilities that I knew I could (and ought to) take advantage of in this story. The reason I chose Sai for this fight is because I needed somebody we knew was a strong and formidable ninja for him to face and I felt that to go with Naruto, Sasuke or Sakura would have been too much.

Also in this chapter, I wanted to bring back Neji and Jiraiya and give them something to do, particularly Neji. I wanted to get into his head a bit and wrestle with my notion that, since he has been dead for so long in this timeline, he doesn't feel he is at the top of his game like he was during the series leading up to the war. Also, given his obvious relationship to Boruto, whom the boy never got to meet in his own timeline, I found him to be a great opportunity here.

I also got into Naruto's head a bit more and gave another hint that the last year of dealing with Taka and now all the stress of having Boruto around was getting to him. That was why he seemed a lot ruder to Jiraiya than he probably intended to.

I also surprised myself as I wrote this chapter, as I paid off my revelation of Jōkā being a Taka double agent in a way I did not even know about going into it. I originally had in mind for that to pay it off in another way, but as I realized I needed a way for Shinachiku to get this information, I realized that this was a great opportunity.

Yep! Boruto got what he wanted and has found Hinata...This can't be good! Especially if Neji is putting the pieces together already!

So yes, not only is Mizuki inside the village now, but so too is Sugure! If you been keeping track of the story so far, you might be able to figure out why he cares so much about stopping Mizuki's plans, and really, I think it's pretty obvious. Yes, our main villain is finally in our main character's home. Will that lead to disaster, or something else? Well, you'll have to come back for Part II to find out!

Until next time, see ya!


	11. Chapter 11--Times Are A-Changin, Part II

Hi there everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Yes, yes, I know that I have kept you all waiting WAY too long for this chapter, and I swear to you that I am really, really sorry. The fact of the matter is that December has been a very busy month for me. I am working an evening job this year, with the usual daily business that needs to get done every morning. I have had to deal with many different responsibilities regarding my family, my job during peak season, and, honestly, a bit of writer's block as I tried to figure out this very long and complex chapter.

I do not mean to make excuses for my tardiness, only to let you in on what has been going on. I hope you can forgive me, and I thank you all so much for your patience.

But anyway, onto this chapter. This is by far the longest chapter I have written yet for this story, and for good reason as you will see. There is a lot that will happen in this chapter, and with any luck, it may shock and surprise a lot of you.

With all of that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 11: The Times They Are A-Changin', Part II**

"Shina!" Sarada yelled working to keep up with her boyfriend among the crowd of villagers lining the streets. "Slow down and stay focused!"

"There's no time!" the blonde shouted back. "We need to find Mizuki now before he gets away."

"Come on, how do you even know that was him?"

"I read a description of him in my dad's book."

"That's no proof!"

Shinachiku stopped suddenly, turned his head around, and snapped. **"You've got any better suggestions?!"**

Sarada frowned at his anger and shook her head in disappointment. "No."

"Good. Now come on, before he gets too far ahead."

The couple made their way through the crowd for several more minutes but he damned cloaked man was too far ahead and out of sight.

"Damn it!" Shinachiku cursed as he kicked a mail box in frustration.

"Hey!" A Konoha postman with youthful features and brown hair caught them and approached them. "That box is village government property. There's a fine for kicking that—Oh! Excuse me Honorable Son of Lord Seventh. I didn't realize it was you. I'm actually a huge fan of you and your father. I don't believe we've met, my name's Tayori Kuroyagi, Konoha Central postman as you can see from my uniform. Please forgive my rudeness, but you really shouldn't—"

 **"GET LOST!"**

The postman freaked out at the boys furious outburst and actually ran away in terror. In fact, he could have sworn he could see slits forming in the boys eyes for a split second.

"What the hell was that for?!" Sarada chastised her boyfriend incredulously. "That guy was just doing his job."

"He was getting in the way of our mission."

"No, he was chewing you out when _you_ kicked that mail box like a child. You're lucky you're so famous and he didn't report you, and he may do that now anyway."

Shinachiku stopped to take a deep breath. "I...I'm sorry, all right. I'm just a little..."

He trailed off, and so she took the liberty to put a hand on his shoulder and look him in the eye.

"Hey," she said, "it's going to be alright. I know what's at stake. But you're team captain, you loosing your cool and getting angry and unfocused isn't going to make things any easier. You're smart enough to know that."

He smiled and put his hand on her own. "Sarada, I'm—"

"Captain?"

The two of them turned at the sound of a pair of a voice they recognized immediately. Mitsuki and Muon had finally caught up to them, even within the crowd.

"Captain," Mitsuki addressed the blonde formally, as usual. "We've both rendezvous with you both just as you've ordered sir."

"Did you have trouble finding us?" Sarada asked.

"A little," he said.

"I'm glad you're both here," Shinachiku told them. "Have you seen any sightings of the suspect we described to you?"

"No captain, I haven't."

Shina turned to his other teammate. "What about you Muon?"

"..."

"Fair enough. Alright listen, I want the four of us to split up and search the village and the city from top to bottom. Everybody keep their phones and communication devices on. Report in to one another the moment you hear anything. This man must not be allowed to leave this village under _any_ circumstances. Understood?"

"HAI!" The other three all said as one.

"Alright then, break!"

With ninja speed, the four of them leapt in opposite direction to scour the Hidden Leaf Village in pursuit of their mysterious adversary. After all, the fate of everything depended on it...

* * *

"Sai!"

The Anbu captain heard the voice of his friend and leader and, for once, was not looking forward to speaking to him.

"G-Greetings Lord Seventh sir."

Naruto looked over his friend's injuries. "Sweet Sage Sai, what the heck happened?"

"It was the boy Naruto. He's proven much more clever and stronger than we'd thought."

"Bolt did _this_ to you?"

"Hai."

The Orange Hokage rubbed his face with his bandaged hand and stared to the side to gather his thoughts. "You're telling me that a _Genin_ won a fight against _you_? An Anbu Black Op?"

Sai actually got defensive. "Don't be so shocked Naruto. He is your s—"

"SHHHHH!" The blonde shushed him in a panic. "What are you trying to do?! Alert the whole village?! That's an S-rank secret, remember?!"

Sai scratched the back of his head innocently. "Oh yes, silly me. Gomen Lord Seventh."

Naruto sweat dropped. "Look, Sai, just tell me where the kid is right now."

Sai paused before answering. "Naruto...I'm sorry."

"Sai?"

"...Neji took him."

"What?!"

"He was in the crowd when we fought and he saw the boy using the Hyūga clan's Gentle Fist fighting style. He took the boy with him."

"Shit!" Naruto cursed under his breath. "Was Neji alone?"

"..."

"Sai?"

"..."

"SAI!"

"Naruto...Hinata was there too."

The blonde felt every trace of blood in his face draining down to his feet. He was turning as pale white as Sai himself was. This was it. This was his worst nightmare come to life.

There was only one word he could say to all of this. "Fuck..."

* * *

A man in a cloak was rushing through the crowded streets of Konoha. He couldn't shake this feeling that somebody was following him. Scratch that, he _knew_ that someone was following him. The Uzumaki bastard! If that kid caught up to him everything was going to be ruined.

'No more waiting then. I need to find a safe place and do this now.'

The cloaked man put in every bit of ninja speed he had to sneak through the crow, even rudely bumping into many of them and not paying them any sort of respect.

Little did he realize that another pair of eyes were watching him from atop on the city buildings. His blue eyes shined underneath his white robe...

Down below on the village streets, a little girl was walking to a local restaurant. She was feeling so relieved as she was walking with her aunt and uncle from the Hidden Cloud Village. With the tragedy on the train that killed her family, they were summoned by members of the Anbu Black Ops to come to Konoha to claim her, accepting their new responsibility as the girl's legal guardians.

The girl herself was, for the first time during this horrible, horrible week, at peace. She was smiling, something she was not able to do ever since her family died. Her aunt and uncle even got the girl to start talking again.

Now, just as soon as the new family had gotten themselves a bite to eat, and then they could start heading back home to the Cloud Village...by carriage of course, they knew that she did not want to go anywhere near a train...

...At least, that was the plan, until the girl looked up at the city skyline and even from such a high vantage point was able to catch sight of something that made her blood go cold.

"Sweetie," the girls aunt called to get her attention. "Dear, are you alright?"

The girl could not look away. It was him, the man in white. The man whose face haunted her nightmares.

And that was when she knew...everyone in the village was going to die...

* * *

The doors to the Hyūga clan compound flew open as Neji tossed the boy across the room, causing him to land on the floor.

"Neji!" Hinata demanded. "Please calm down! He's just a boy!"

"A boy who knows our clan's techniques."

"So? I taught Shinachiku some lessons in his free time. Maybe Hanabi took on a student she hasn't told us about. It's not a big deal."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is the point?"

"..." Neji couldn't finish the sentence in disgust. Instead his just turned back to the boy. "Who are you? Start talking."

"B-Boruto," the boy stammered out. "My name is Boruto."

"What is your last name?"

"I..." The boy found his eyes darting to the concerned woman standing behind the angry Hyūga that was questioning him.

"Don't stare at Lady Hinata boy!" Neji demanded. "What is your full name?"

"I...can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because the Hokage ordered me not to."

Hinata reacted in surprise. "Naruto?"

"What does Lord Hokage have to do with this?"

"I can't tell you that either."

"How do you know the Gentle Fist style?"

"It was taught to me."

"By who?"

"By, uh..."

"Who?!"

Bolt swallowed a gulp in his throat. "By my mo—"

"What's going on here?"

They all turned around to see a grown man with long, messy brown hair, a goatee, sharp black eyes, with vertical slit-pupils, and pronounced canine teeth. More notable were the distinctive red fang markings of his family's clan tattooed on his cheeks. The man was dressed in a standard Konoha flak jacket underneath a open fur coat, and black fingerless gloves, along with grey pants reaching his calves and pair of shinobi sandals. He was carrying a grocery bag under his arm and beside him was a large, old dog with white fur and a wrinkly snout.

"Kiba," Hinata acknowledged her husband.

"Honey, what's going on?"

"Kiba, what are you doing here?" Neji questioned.

"We just got back from getting the groceries. I told you both that, remember?"

"Woof!" Akamaru barked in agreement.

It was then that Kiba got his first glimpse at their other guest. "Who's the kid?"

"That's what I am trying find out," Neji answered.

The dog lover turned to his lovely wife in confusion. "Hinata, what's he talking about?"

"I don't know. I just came across Neji assaulting this poor boy in the street and then he drags him back to our house like a prisoner."

"Neji," Kiba stormed up to his in-law, "I don't know what's gotten into you man, but you know you can't just grab a kid off the street and yell at him like that. This is abuse of a minor!"

"He has information I need."

"About _what_?"

"It's none of your concern Kiba."

"It's happening in _my_ house, so damn right its my concern!"

"Wrong, this is the _Hyūga_ compound, and this is _Hyūga_ business."

"Neji! Stop it!" Hinata snapped. "Kiba's family now, you don't have the right to talk to him that way."

"That's okay babe," Kiba assured her. "I can take care of myself."

Neji merely scoffed and turned back to the boy. He stared at the child's face, analyzing it carefully, intricately...But he needn't have bothered. The facial structure, the eyes, the hair, those damn markings on his cheeks...It set his blood to a boil, so much so that his Byakugan activated without his even realizing it.

"Boy," he demanded, "who is your father?"

"...I"

"Never mind. I already know. Isn't that right Naruto?"

Neji's kekki genki let his see his old friend, his Hokage, was standing there in the doorway right behind them. The other's all turned around in shock to find that, indeed, the Orange Hokage of the Leaf was standing right there, with one of the most serious and downtrodden expressions they had ever seen from him.

"Naruto..." Hinata gasped.

The blonde stepped into the house, Akamaru sensing the tension in the air and actually growling at him behind fanged teeth.

"Let the boy go Neji. That's an order."

Naruto's command disgusted the resurrected Hyūga. With grimace, he signaled for the boy to get up and get out of his sight. But as he did so, Naruto grabbed him by the arm and whispered something to him.

"Head back to my house as stay there, do you understand?"

"...Yes sir."

Naruto let him go and Boruto left, only taking one last look at a worried and confused Hinata before doing so.

The blonde was left to stare down his old friends. They had met him, he was here. In spite of all he had done to prevent this, the moment had come.

"Naruto, what's going on?" Kiba questioned in confusion. "Who was that kid?"

His eyes glance to all three people in the room, particularly Hinata, before closing his eyes, letting out a deep sigh, and opening them again. "You guys, there's something I have to tell you..."

* * *

Sarada was combing the streets on the west side of the city. She activated her Sharingan to give her a better eye's view and hopefully help her to find her target. No, her clan's kekki genki wasn't known for this kind of use the way that the Byakugan was, but given what was on the line, she was willing to take every advantage she could get.

The Chūnin's bright red eyes, highlighted her glasses, possessed two black tomoe as her vision changed. She was focusing on the flow of chakra down on the streets. She was looking for anything that was above average from the dozens upon dozens of pedestrians lining the streets. She was searching for a Jōnin-level chakra signature in a sea of, well, Lees.

'Aw man!' she coursed. 'All these people and I can't see a thing! He must be on a different side of town by now. I hope the others are having more luck than I am.'

* * *

Shinachiku was frantically patrolling the north side of the city. He decided to seek out the high ground by climbing a stairwell to the roof of a nearby building. He was hoping that by getting himself some elevation that it would make it easier for him to find his target. After all, for all the skills he possessed, he was no Uchiha or Hyūga.

'I can't believe I'm thinking this, but that Boruto kid might actually be useful right now.'

The boy's eyes were constantly moving back and forth in every direction, searching top to bottom for any sign of this man.

'Wait! What's that?!'

There he was! Passing through a busy sidewalk was a man in a cloak! And the cloak was an exact match to the one they were looking for!

"Got you!" Shinachiku proclaimed...

...Until the cloaked man stopped to talk to someone else amongst the crowd, then promptly lowered his hood to reveal just another Leaf ninja.

"Damn!" The blonde made a fist as he contemplated his next move. 'I have to catch up to that guy and fast, before it's too late...'

* * *

Mitsuki was on the south side of the village, his golden eyes darting back and forth. He was looking in every way he could think of, from a distance, from the high ground, but he could do nothing to find the person his captain sought.

That was when the boy got himself an idea. He bit his thumb and slammed his hand down on the ground.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

In a puff of smoke, right in the middle of the street, with dozens of civilian villagers around him on all sides, a swarm of normal sized snakes appeared before the boy.

"AGH!" a woman screamed in terror. "I hate snakes!"

"Mommy! They're scary!" A child coward next to her mother.

"Get them away! Get them away!" a fully grown and heavily muscled man pleaded like a total sissy.

"Masssssssssster?" one of the snakes hissed. "Was issssssssss it?"

"I want you all to split up and scour the entire village. Look for a man in a hooded cloak who has white unkempt hair with a blue tint that reaches down to his shoulder and green eyes. He should look fairly muscular and well defined. He should be wearing an open black vest, black pants, and a dark brown belt with a buckle shaped like a silver rectangle."

"Who issssssssss this man?" the snake asked.

"A criminal," Mitsuki answered. "One that my captain and Lord Seventh would very much like to see returned to prison. Now scatter!"

The snakes all slithered away in every direction, freaking out a lot of people as they did so and causing a bit of mass panic as they quickly moved to get out of the creature's path.

'I simply will never understand ophidiophobes. Even the captain doesn't get us father.'

* * *

Muon was patrolling the east side of the city. Wordlessly he passed through the mob. The boy was like a specter, an invisible voyeur who could pass anybody and observe anything and be so silent and attract so little attention to himself that absolutely nobody would even notice his existence.

That was always the boy's greatest contribution to his squad, his anonymity. And he knew precisely how to use that to his advantage. Nobody knew the reason why this boy had taken a vow of silence, but for a ninja that proved to be a good asset.

Scanning the crowd, eyes darting from one civilian to another, he could see nothing... Until all of a sudden, he saw a man in a cloak, and in less than a second, he got a peak underneath the hood to see the face of the man they ere looking for.

Muon trailed him in silence, his footsteps so light that they made no sound, and even if they had, the commotion of the villagers were loud enough to cover it up. He followed Mitsuki down several blocks. As he did so, he pulled out his cellular phone and started typing an email addressed to his three teammates.

* * *

Shinachiku's phone all of sudden chimed, alerting him that he had received an email. Pulling the phone out of his pocket, he opened the email and found a message from one of his team: _"..."_

The blonde immediately started typing back to the others: _"Attention team, Muon had found Mizuki. He's on the east side of the village. Muon is trailing him, but everyone begin rendezvousing on that side of the village. Be prepared for a fight."_

After sending his message, Shina wasted no time making his way eastward.

'Thank you Jōkā, we'd all might be dead right now if it wasn't for you...'

* * *

 _"The message has been sent master. Uzumaki and his comrades are on the hunt for Mizuki as we speak."_

 _"For Taka's sake, we must pray that they reach him in time."_

 _"Literally."_

 _"Watch your tongue!"_

 _"Gomen, master. What now?"_

 _"For now, continue keeping up your guard. Your deep cover assignment has been going too well for it all to be exposed now—"_

 _Knock! Knock!_

Jōkā slammed his laptop shut as soon as he heard a knocking on his door. He then heard rattling, as though the person on the other side could not turn the doorknob. Swallowing his composure, he said "Come in."

"I will when you unlock the door."

Getting up, the young Stone ninja got up and unlocked the door, opening it. Waiting on the other side was his teammate with pineapple-shaped hair, who came into the room closing the door behind him.

"Shikadai, what are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," the Nara boy retorted. "Why did you have the door locked?"

"Hey, can't a guy be aloud a little privacy?"

The current head of the CGRS glanced over his teammate's shoulder and noticed his laptop. "Why? Were you looking porn or something?"

"No!"

"Pfft! Whatever. So troublesome."

Jōkā folded his arms. "So what's up?"

"We're having a meeting in the conference room, and everyone's required to be there. Now come on, I've already told everybody else."

Jōkā's eyes darted off a bit when his teammate had his back turned. "Wait, should we really be having a meeting without Shinachiku and the others here?"

Shikadai turned back around in suspicion. "As interim captain until Shina gets back, I have the right to call a meeting when I feel it's necessary, and trust me, I do. Besides, with the snow still falling pretty hard and us being so far out from the nearest village, its not like any of us are going anywhere for a while. _Right?_ "

'Shit! So much for my escape.' Seeing no other recourse, the boy nodded. "Okay, I'll be right there."

"Good." Shikadai was just about to exit the door, before he stopped again. " Jōkā?"

"Yeah?"

"Do me a favor and bring your laptop with you to the meeting, would you?"

"Umm...Why?"

"...Captain's orders."

"H-Hai captain."

With that, Shikadai at last lest the boy's room. And when he did, the whole room felt a lot larger and a lot more empty as all the traitor could think to himself was, 'Well, this sucks.'

* * *

There was silence in the Hyūga compound as Naruto finished telling the story to his three friends. If this whole affair was tearing him apart just talking about it, he could sense that the others were all utterly decimated.

Hinata was stuck sitting on her hands and knees, her face in her hands as tears poured out. It was like something out of a dream and a nightmare all at the same time. That boy, he was her _son!_ Her and _Naruto's_ son! Her first love. And in some other world, they were together!

She could almost see it...A house...two kids...him coming home from work and her waiting for him with a warm smile as they kissed...and the four of them all sitting down together for dinner...

...And then, when then the kids were all in bed, they would both go to their bedroom themselves...one thing would lead to another...

 _'NO!'_

Hinata's conscious came back with a vengeance! She would not let herself go down that path, thinking those disgusting thoughts! That was a different life, not her life! She loved her family, and she would never dare betray them!

Neji, meanwhile was just standing there listening to his friend spill the beans. As Hinata's cousin and a member of the branch family, it took an unusually high amount of self control for the clan prodigy to stay where he was and attack his own Hokage right then and there... Not that he would stand much of a chance in a fight with Naruto either way, but that wasn't the point!

What _was_ the point was how conflicted he was feeling right now. Never before had he felt so inherently disgusted at another human being, yet simultaneously understanding that, technically, he had done absolutely nothing wrong. As utterly preposterous as Naruto's story seemed, Neji himself was only here to listen to it because of the powers of one of the very same chakra gems that caused the boy to appear here in the first place.

As for poor Kiba, he needed to sit down at the dinner table and listen as his friend explained that in some other life he had gotten married to his wife instead of him, and together they had not one, but two children. The images of Naruto and Hinata in bed together kept forcing here way into his skull...Overall, he was taking it all pretty well...

"I feel like I'm going to throw up."

Hinata got to her feet and rushed over to him. "Kiba..."

She tried putting her hand on his shoulder, but he shook it off almost like it were diseased. He loved her, he knew she was his and his alone. He just...he just couldn't right now.

Naruto hung his head. "I'm sorry Kiba...all of you. I don't know what else I can say."

"I think you've said enough already," Neji snapped.

"Neji, please?"

"What do you expect me to say Hinata? You and Naruto have a son from another universe shows up and you expect me to say _nothing?_ "

"We can't blame Naruto for that."

"Then who the hell are we supposed to blame?"

"Neji—"

"And you! How _stupid_ are you that you chose to bring this boy with you back to the Leaf village? Look at all the harm he's caused already?! _Your_ marriage! _Our_ family! He's ruined everything!"

"Neji!" Hinata protested. "He's just a child."

" _Your_ child! Yours and _his!_ " Neji pointed angrily at a silent Naruto. "You and I may understand the truth, but other _won't_. The _villagers_ won't. The _elders_ won't. Lady Hinata, you could be labeled an unfaithful whore for this!"

"Hey!" Naruto retorted. "That's uncalled for—!"

"Naruto! You could loose your job for this! What if the elders strip your title from you. You'd be labeled a disgrace to the entire village!"

"I know."

"You and Sakura might end up getting divorced."

"I know."

"Your children. Have you even thought about the shame something like this might bring down upon them?"

 **"I know!"**

"Then what the hell were you thinking then?!"

"I felt that we had a much better chance of finding answers here in the village where we had resources than in the CGRS headquarters in the middle of nowhere. I ordered him kept in quarantine until we'd figured something out."

"And you sure did a wonderful job with that, didn't you?!"

Naruto groaned. "What would _you_ have me do then?"

"Use the gem to send him back to wherever he came from."

"How? We don't understand how it brought him here in the first place."

Neji, for once, could not come up with any more suggestions to fix this mess, so he simply stayed silent and glared in anger.

The blonde was now felling like a complete and total ass. He needed to speak to somebody, anybody that would still listen. His eyes fell on Kiba, still looking as disillusioned as ever.

"Kiba, you know this must be hard for you, but I want you to—"

"Get out."

He was taken aback, but dared to speak again. "Kiba, I'm sor—"

"GET OUT!"

Well, that was all there was to it. Whether their friendship was broken or not, the damage was done. In silence, and with Neji's eyes still glaring upon him, Naruto bowed his head in politeness and made his way to the door.

But before doing so, he stopped in front of a crying Hinata. There were no words shared between them, their eyes did all of the talking. Regret, apology, loneliness, all of it was conveyed with three long seconds of eye contact. By the time he turned his head back and walked out thedoor, she was on her knees again crying her eyes out...

* * *

The entirety of the Chakra Gem Recovery Squad, minus it's captain, second-in-command, and two of it's most mysterious members, was assembled in the conference room located in their isolated headquarters. The squad was sitting a large round table where everyone had a chair. It was here that the team would gather to discuss leads to the location of the chakra gems, important information that was transferred to them from the Shinobi Union, and any and all other important business that needed to be discussed as a group.

There were some ramblings as everyone took their seats. Shikadai sat at the head of the table, filling in for Shinachiku as he was the interim captain, with Inojin and Chōchō sitting to each side of him. Sitting next to Chōchō was Tsuki, with Ōkami on the other side of her. Sunako took the seat beside Inojin, with Bagu sitting next to her, and Burandon next to him. Bōis and On'na took seats next to each other and held hands beneath the table. Jōkā took the last available seat and set his laptop on the table.

With everyone seated down, Shikadai banged on the table to silence everyone and bring this meeting to order. "Good evening guys, girls, thank you for coming. I'm sure all of you are wondering why I called this meeting."

"This had better be good Shikadai!" Ōkami protested rudely.

"I know it's late, but I do have a reason for calling all of you here."

"What's going on?" On'na asked.

Taking a breath, the Nara began to explain. "As you all know, for the last year this squad has been responsible for the locating and procurement of the three remaining chakra gems before our enemies in Taka can find them first. As you will also know, we've been doing very _badly_."

Bōis leaned over to whisper to Jōkā. "Way to rub it in, huh?"

"Yeah..." The Stone ninja put up the best front he could, to hide his own sense of discomfort about this impromptu meeting.

"What is your point in all of this cousin?" Sunako questioned.

"I've been thinking about our situation. How is it that until just a few days ago, every single one of our leads has turned out to be a dead end? How has Taka always gotten a step ahead of us? How have the gems always eluded our grasp until now?"

"Because hardly anyone in the world knows about them to begin with," Inojin offered.

"True... _Or_ because somebody on this team is a mole."

There were gasps both of shock and offense at their teammate's accusation, It quickly turned in to a ruckus as Shikadai was forced to bang the table again to reclaim order.

"Dude! What the hell are you talking about? We're your friends man!" Ōkami shouted.

"Yeah Shika, you can't be serious," Chōchō added.

"I know that this is troublesome and that none of you want to hear this," Shikadai stated. "But this is a internal threat to this squad's mission that needs to be confronted."

"Perhaps it would be wiser and more youthful to have this discussion when Shikachiku, Sarada, Mitsuki and Muon have returned?" Burandon offered.

Shikadai put a stop to that right away. "No. Shinachiku is a great guy, but he's just like his dad, once his trust is earned, it's not easily broken. He wouldn't have it in him to doubt one of his own team, especially not after a whole year of us working together."

"And you think you know better than him?" Bagu challenged.

"Yes."

There were some more rumblings around the others as they reacted to all of this. Jōkā sat there, as if he were in deep thought, a far cry from his usual humorous self.

"What proof do you have Shika?" Tsuki asked.

Shikadai took a deep breath. "Well, I'm sure some of you saw that news story on _Konoha Tonight_ about our captain Shinachiku, where the reporter talked about rumors of a Taka mole among our ranks."

"Oh come on!" Bōis shouted. "That was just a bunch of media garbage!"

"I agree with Bōis," On'na added.

"A bit of a biased point-of-view, don't you think?" Bagu remarked.

"What did you say?" Bōis looked like she was ready to punch the bug user's light out. "Don't talk to her like that!"

"Shut up!" Shikadai shouted to get everything back in order. "This is serious you guys!"

"Shikadai," Inojin spoke up, "I saw that story too and I think I know where you're going with this. You don't agree with them that Mitsuki could be the mole, do you?"

"No. Mitsuki may be mysterious and a bit weird, but he's no traitor. He's been _way_ too loyal to Shinachiku for that."

"So who then?" Burandon asked.

"How about the person who's been the _least_ useful on our missions despite his skills. The one who frankly got recommended to be on this team as much for his computer skills as for his fighting ability. _And_ the one person on this team who hasn't said a single word since he got here."

The room fell silent as all heads turned to said person...Jōkā.

"Wh-What are you talking about man?"

"You have been the one of us most responsible for researching our leads over the Internet, all of which turned out to be a bust until now, and the one clue that actually led us to a chakra gem came from a different source than you."

"So? That doesn't prove anything."

"You also have been pretty damn useless every time you've come with us on a mission, despite coming with the Tsuchikage's recommendation. Everything's just one big joke to you. And once we found that one lead that proved to be right, you insisted on coming with us where, guess what, you proved to be a nuisance once again!"

"That was just a coincidence!"

"This does seem highly suspicious," Sunako agreed.

"Oh it gets better. You may be the leading computer geek on this team Jōkā, but I've been tracking a number of suspicious, late night email correspondences coming from this building very late at night. Oh, it may not have been on the main server, but lets just say I have a few tricks of my own."

Jōkā actually started getting offended. "Fuck you! I don't need this! I don't need this traitor crap!"

"You've been contacting Taka high command right under our noses this whole time, haven't you? **Haven't you?!** "

Jōkā merely glared at his accuser with eyes that could pierce through a brick wall. He said nothing, but he had the intend to kill.

"I suppose there's no way to prove that those messages came from Jōkā, or from any of us for that matter, much less whom they were communicating with," On'na noted.

"Oh there is." Shikadai held out his hand. "Jōkā, hand over your laptop I asked you to bring with you."

"What?!" he protested. "You're crossing a line!"

"Do it Jōkā! That's an order!"

Wordlessly, he picked up his laptop and handed it over. Shikadai immediately opened it up and began going through the files stored upon it. What he didn't notice was that Jōkā had let his hand slip back up his sleeve, grabbing hold of something hidden inside...

"What do you see?" Inojin asked his friend.

"Looks like there's a hyperlink to a forum on here." He looked up at his teammate in question. "What is this?"

"It's just a link to an otaku forum I like to visit."

" _You?_ An otaku?" Ōkami cocked an eyebrow.

"What's your password?" Shikadai asked, not believing his explanation.

Jōkā sighed. "WSJ111014."

Shikadai typed the password in, and received access to the forum. He immediately started reading all of the messages and conversations he was having with someone with a username of 'MASTER.'

"Oh my..."

"What is it Shikadai?" Tsuki asked in concern.

Having read enough, the Nara stood up from the table and addressed his team. "This forum is filled with private conversations with the obvious leader of Taka himself! Our teammate has indeed been working as a mole the entire time!"

The rest of the team reacted in alarm, many jumping out of their chairs and getting into a fighting pose.

" Jōkā," Shikadai said in contempt. "By the authority of the Shinobi Union, I hereby place you under arrest for acts of treason against the shinobi world and humanity." He slammed his hands together and rapidly made a series of hand signs. "NINJA ART: SHADOW POSSESSION JUTSU!"

The boy's shadow spread out to entrap the boy, making the traitor their prisoner...But then, something horrific happened. Shikadai's jutsu would not touch Jōkā, it merely retreated back to it's creator having no effect on it's target at all.

'Damn!' Shikadai cursed in his mind. 'Of course! How could I have stupidly overlooked that?!'

Jōkā smirked as he answered the question that was on his entire team's minds. "Blue Serum. Made sure to take some before I came to this meeting. Seems it came in handy."

"AAAAAGGGHHH! Traitor!"

Ōkami furiously lunged at Jōkā! His clawed nails drawn, he would show no mercy!

"FANG OVER FANG!"

Having studied the Inuzuka boy's fighting style for a year, Jōkā knew the precise points to dodge the attack and to get the proper grip.

"AGH!"

Ōkami fell down to the ground in pain, then pulled something out of his body. It was a small hypodermic needle, one that has the last traces of some kind of reddish clear fluid still left inside of it.

"Oniichan!" Tsuki shouted in terror!

"Sis! Stay back!"

Tsuki stayed where she was at her twin brother's insistence.

"WATER STYLE: TWIN HYDRO PULSE!"

Bōis and On'na jointly released one of their signature techniques: they each released a full powered water jutsu from their mouths that each came together for twice a destructive force...Only to see their attack completely collapse to the floor, flooding the entire room and leaving their former teammate completely dry.

"Really?" he quipped. "Were you two not paying attention to a word I'd just said?" His eyes then shifted to the side when he could tell something was happening behind him. "I know you know better Sunako. Your sand won't do you any more good then their water."

The sand princess wordlessly and begrudgingly recalled her sand back into her gourd, admitting to her disadvantage.

"You can put the paper and brush away too Inojin. You're not going to be sending any of your crappy doodles into my brain as long as I've got the blue serum inside me."

The Yamanaka boy was actually so pissed off and disgusted that he did a very uncharacteristic thing by just throwing his artist's tools on the floor.

"You know," Jōkā spoke to everyone, "I'm actually kind of glad that my cover is blown. It means I can finally deal with all of you annoying bastards once and for all."

He rolled up his sleeve to reveal that he had been wearing some sort of device worn on his wrist that was loaded with small hypodermic needles filled with Taka's familiar red serum. It was in this way that he was able inject Ōkami with the serum earlier.

"That serum will do nothing to stop me or the power of youth!" Burandon Lee charged forth with his legs outstretched, ready for a pivotal strike. "DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

"You're right..." The traitor grabbed the green beast of Konoha by his leg and threw him down to ground.

 _SNIKT!_

"...It won't."

Gasps and screams of horror filled the room. It unthinkable had happened...On Jōkā's other wrist was a retractable, spring loaded blade, hidden up his other sleeve. The blade had now been unleashed and found itself a new home...

...And that home was in the now bloody throat of one Burandon Lee.

Retracting his blade, blood splattering as a trail of it lined the floor, Jōkā left he dead, lifeless body to itself as he faced the others, his vials of serum and his lethal weapon both at the ready.

"Oh boy," the boy said with a crazed smile," I can't tell ya all how much I've wanted to show you my toys..."

* * *

The man in the cloak had ducked into an alleyway. He was tired of waiting. He'd been patient for so long, but he saw no need to wait any longer. So, he ducked into a place where he thought he would have all the privacy he needed.

...Or so he thought.

"Mizuki!"

The man in the cloak turned his head to find a stranger standing there. the stranger was dressed head to toe in white, with a silver belt that had a curious multicolor belt buckle.

"I think you have me confused with someone else stranger," the cloaked man said.

"No, I don't believe so..."

The man in white lowered his own hood, revealing a startling face, one that bore an uncanny resemblance both to the very man he had come here to destroy, and also to somebody else he knew, but was having a hard time placing the face.

Mizuki was in such shock that he dropped the act and lowered his own hood. "Who are you?"

"That's not important to inferior trash like you. Now, if you wish to live, you will surrender the chakra gem you have to me right now."

"I don't know what you're—"

"Don't lie to me! You carry one of Kaguya's relics on you right now and you came here to use it to get rid of Naruto Uzumaki."

"And why do you care whether Uzumaki lives?"

The man in white chuckled. 'Believe me, I don't. But what _you_ have in mind would completely undo everything I am and what I am working to create."

"Whatever," Mizuki took a fighting stance. "If you want this gem, you'll have to go through me."

The man in white shook his head. "I'll make this quick. MANGEKYŌ SHARINGAN!"

The man's eyes transformed from blue to a mixture of black and red, in a shape that resembled a straight tomoe, a lotus-like pinwheel shape that could hypnotize and terrify those who gazed upon them.

And that was when Mizuki finally realized who it was he was dealing with, who the second face he saw within the man's own reminded him of. "What...What _are_ you?"

"I...am perfection. GENJUTSU!"

His right eye spiraled and Mizuki found himself in a void, a desert with no signs of life anywhere to be found. In the outside world, his body was unable to move from being trapped in the illusion.

"Wh-What is this! Hello?!"

"AMATERASU!"

Mizuki then heard the man in white's voice again, and then he felt an intense, terrible, horrible burning!

"AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

In the real world, the man in white activated his left eye, and the result was that black flames engulfed the rogue ninja's entire body, burning him with a fire hot enough to burn other fire!

'Scream all you want you fool. Once you're done, I will be free to take the gem for my own.'

Mizuki lay there screaming in pain as his body was being burned to a crisp. The pain was the worst he had ever felt...This was it, he would never get his revenge...It was all going to end here...He was about to die...

"RASENGAN!"

A powerful blast of chakra slammed right into the man in white's back. It was enough to cause a small explosion, one that did it's intended job and broke the stranger's concentration. The genjutsu and the Amaterasu were broken, and Mizuki was left a smoldering, but alive, mess on the alleyway floor.

Getting back up, the man in white glared at those whom dared to attack him. What he saw was a quartet of faces he was not anticipating. They were a bunch of thirteen-year old children, elite Chūnin-level shinobi. One of them was a boy dressed like he was from the Cloud village, but he was the one that he was least interested in.

There was also a girl there, one with raven hair and black eyes. Standing right next to him was a boy, a boy with blonde hair and green eyes, and from the way he was holding his hand it seemed that he was the one that had dared to attack him.

'So, the spawn of my blood brothers show their faces before me.'

He then noticed the fourth child, another boy, one with pale skin, gold eyes and white-blue hair. This boy seemed utterly terrified at who they were facing, and for good reason. The man in white knew this boy well, how could he not after all the time they'd spend together?

Standing back up, the man in white smirked. "It's been a long time Mitsuki. How's father?"

An intense shiver crawled up the boy's spine. A cold sweat drenched his blue kimono jacket. Only a single word could escape the boy mouth, "S-Sugure..."

Shinachiku and Sarada both looked to their teammate in shock. Never before had they seen him this scarred of anything before.

"Mitsuki, what's wrong?" Sarada asked. "Do you know this guy?"

"..."

"Mitsuki?" Shinachiku asked again for her.

"..."

"MITSUKI!"

The blonde's yell finally snapped the boy out of his shock. "C-Captain...we need to get out of here immediately."

"What are you talking about? We have to take Mizuki into custody and arrest this man for ruthless assault."

"No! No, captain please! We need to leave!"

"Stand at your post Mitsuki! That's an order!"

"NO! We have to go! NOW!"

Shina was at a loss for words. For a year they have worked together and Mitsuki had _never_ shown him even a trace of defiance before. If his friend was getting _this_ scarred, then this was far more serious than they realized.

"Mitsuki, who is this man? Tell us, that's an order."

The boy swallowed a lump in his throat before continuing. "His name is Sugure Mashita, captain, and he is a genetically-engineered superman created from combining the DNA of two of the world's most powerful shinobi."

"Who?"

"Lord Seventh Hokage and Sasuke Uchiha."

Both the blonde and the girl reacted in terror. Muon remained silent never taking his eyes off the man in white.

"M-My dad?" Sarada questioned in shock. "My dad's DNA went into making _that_ guy?!"

"Hai," Mitsuki answered. "That's why he can use the Mangekyō Sharingan. He has all the abilities of both of your father's at their peak, plus superhuman strength, speed, and intelligence to boot. In short, he is a perfect being."

Shina's mind was racing a mile a second. This man, this _monster_ , was cloned from his and Sarada's father's DNA, and now this man was standing between them and the person they'd been hunting across the entire village for.

"How do you know all of this?" Shina questioned.

"..."

"Mitsuki, please answer me."

The boy paused for a moment before answering. "I know because Sugure and his six followers were genetically engineered by Lord Orochimaru himself...Just like I was."

This revelation caused the two kids to jump back as their eyes went wide. Sarada was the one to speak next. "Orochimaru?"

"Yes. I'm his son..."

Shinachiku was about to say more, but he was distracted by the sound of sarcastic clapping. Turning their heads, they saw Sugure was still standing there clapping away, an arrogant smirk plastered all over his face. "Well, well, well, isn't this amusing. It really is good to see you again Mitsuki, give my regards to father the next time you see him. I'll be sure to let the others know you said hi once I regroup with them. Now forgive me kiddies, I'd love to stay and talk more, but I'm afraid I have a matter to deal with first."

Now ignoring the children, the superman turned back around look down upon the pathetic wretch that was Mizuki. The rogue ninja was in too much pain to do or say anything as his attacker reached into his pocket and pulled out the object he sought. It was a glowing orange gem!

 _WHIP!_

A metal cable shot out and grabbed hold of Sugure's arm that was holding he gem. Turning back in annoyance, he saw that the Cloud ninja that hadn't spoken a word had whipped out a cable to hold him hostage.

"Good job Muon." Shinachiku complimented. "Hold him still."

Muon merely nodded.

"Sugure Mashita," the blonde spoke again, "by the authority of the Chakra Gem Recover Squad, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and the Shinobi Union, I hereby place you under arrest—"

 _SNAP!_

A flick of the wrist was all it took to break the cable. But he didn't stop there. He grabbed he cable and flung Muon over to him. The boy quickly made a series of rapid hand sings and formed another whip made of pure lightning chakra to strike the superman with, but he instead backed away and dodged it electrical current. Nobody knew the name of Muon's jutsu because, well, he never shouted his technique's names during combat. With an electric crack the silent warrior attacked his opponent over and over again, but Sugure dodged the attack every time.

Tiring of this, Muon ceased his jutsu and created a new one, a sword made of pure electric chakra that he attempted to lunge at the enemy with the speed and agility of a true ninja...Except that the superman grabbed him in the air by the throat, strangling him.

"Let's see if this gets you to talk."

Sugure threw the boy clear to the other side of the alleyway, across the street and through a solid wall! The civilians inside the building went screaming in panic.

"Muon!" Shinachiku and Sarada both exclaimed, while Mitsuki was still too distraught to move.

'It's happening all over again...He'll destroy us...He'll destroy all of us...'

As all of this was happening, Mizuki was still on the ground stretching his horribly burnt arm out to grab hold of the chakra gem that still lay forgotten on the ground...

But Mitsuki's two teammates were not going to let this end without a fight! And so they hand the proper hand signs, channeled their chakra, and applied the necessary change in chakra nature to form two of their signature techniques.

"WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: RASENGAN!"

"SCORCHING CHIDORI!"

"Foolish children!" Sugure gathered the chakra inside of his own palm to form a large Rasengan, then changed it's nature to wind to form a giant shuriken-shaped version that hovered in his hand above his head. "You think you can defeat me?! I am unstoppable! I am perfection! I am—!"

"History!"

The superman turned around to see Mizuki grab hold of he chakra gem and closed his eyes, focusing his mind and his chakra.

 _"No!"_

The rogue ninja instantly disappeared, the gem along with him.

The three young ninja all stopped in their tracks as they saw what had just happened. The entire world started to change then. Sugure fell to his knees, clutching his chest as he slumped to the ground.

"AAGH!"

"Hey!" Sarada screamed, "What's wrong with him?!"

"No...Noooooo!" Sugure Mashita, the so-called perfect being, screamed his final outcry of pain as he, quite literally, vanished right before their eyes.

"What the hell just...?"

Shinachiku eyes widened. It wasn't just the man in white who was disappearing, it was _everything!_ Everything in the village was vanishing, taking on a new form of some sort. And his three teammates, they were all literally disappearing the same way that Sugure had!

"C-Captain...I..." Mitsuki never got to finish before his was gone. Muon, just now struggling to get up, could only salute his captain before he vanished as well.

"MITSUKI! MUON!"

"Shina..."

The boy turned and glared in absolute horror. She was fading away too!

 **"SARADA!"**

"Shina...I can't stop it! What's happening to me?!"

The boy rapidly grabbed her hand and stammered out everything he could think of to say to her. "Don't go! Sarada don't leave me! Please! Fight it!"

"I can't! I don't..."

Neither of them could speak anymore, Both of them could feel tears falling. Neither one could help it, they came together in a kiss. A kiss that said what words could not. They lost track of time...

...Until time pulled them apart. Shina could no longer feel his beloved's lip upon his own...

"I love you..." were the last words he heard before she was gone...And he was alone...

* * *

Jōkā stood there in a nightmarish scene of utter carnage. The entire squad, every single one of Shinachiku and Sarada's closest friends, all of them lie dead and cut to pieces, everyone's blood mixing with everyone else's. They all fought to their last breath, but their opponent had spent the year studying them too well, and with their chakra now lost to them, and their techniques useless even if they had had them, they were simply no match for the wolf that had hidden amongst them in sheep's clothing.

Shikadai, Inojin, Chōchō, the next generation of Ino-Shika-Chō, had all fought, and died, together. The Izuzuka-Hyūga twins found their mutual peace in each other's arms. The two lovers from the Land of Water embraced as they both died sharing their last kiss. Bagu was fallen with his arms out and his sunglasses shattered, his insects falling out of his body as they gasped their own last breaths. And Sunako, her gourd was broken and her enchanted sand spilled onto the floor where it turned red by absorbing the flowing red blood. Her last word, as she peered up at the sky, was simply, "Mother..."

His work was done, his so-called team was destroyed, and now he could finally leave this snow-buried hell hole and return to his true masters. It was a shame that Uzumaki, Uchiha, and those other two could not be here to join their friends in their massacre, but oh well, it left something for the rest of his order to follow up on, perhaps even his master.

Chuckling, he was about to at last leave the room...when all of a sudden he felt something strange. He could feel his stomach straining, He looked at his hand and could see it disappearing!

'No...No! Mizuki you bastard! You've doomed us all!'

He was leaving this world. Soon it would be like he was never here. Like no one was ever here...Funny, now all of that work he had just done felt like a waste of time.

The boy, fading away as he was covered in his friend's blood, started laughing. "It's a joke...It's all just one big joke..."

And so, in his last moments before fading away, he said the only other words that ever truly mattered. "Hail Taka..."

* * *

Boruto was back at the Uzumaki household with his head in his hands. He'd really done it this time. He'd screwed up everything! Why? Because wanted to see her. That's all there was to it. He wanted to see her, and now he'd ruined everything for everybody.

"It wasn't your fault."

The boy looked up to see a smiling, beautiful woman with long red hair looking down on him. Even though he'd never met this woman before today, he knew who she was, and he could not deny, just being in her presence made him feel warm, safe, at peace.

"Grandma."

Kushina kneeled down and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. He may be from some other universe, but he was still her grandson. She needed to say something.

"I couldn't do it," the boy said. "I just couldn't stay hidden anymore. It just wasn't fair. They all told me to stay hidden and I wouldn't listen. And now look what I've done!"

"Bolt, sometimes our desires can cloud us, lead us to choices that affect far more than just ourselves. Sometimes doing the right thing means putting aside what we want and doing what we must for those we love."

Bolt looked up at her. He couldn't speak, but he found himself chocking up as the woman brought him into a hug. "I just wanna go home..."

"I know, I know..."

Minato came into the room, looking upon the scene. He figured he's leave the two in peace...Until he suddenly started feeling something tight in his stomach.

"AAGH!" The Fourth Hokage fell onto the floor in intense pain.

"MINATAAGGHH!"

Kushina overheard her husband's pain and was about to run over to him, before she too felt the same symptoms.

"Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod!" Boruto was panicking, hysterical. "Grandma! Grandpa! What do I do?!"

"Stay safe..." Was the only thing Kushina could find the strength to say as she started fading away.

Both knowing that they had virtually no strength, the two of them crawled along the floor to one another, gazing into each other's eyes. They both shared a passionate, romantic kiss, before they were gone from this world.

Boruto was horrified at what he has seen, even more so when the entire mansion he was staying in disappeared along with them. The boy was now stuck in the middle of the forest outside the village, all alone...

* * *

Hanami Uzumaki was in the room her grandparents had set up for her. She was clutching her chest in pain, the worst pain she had ever felt. Pain even worse than what Taka had done to her only a year ago. She could feel herself, her room, everything fading away.

"Hanami!" Her grandma and grandpa came storming into the room as they heard her cry out in pain, but they were vanishing too.

As the poor girl was stuck on her bed, looking up at the ceiling, all she could think about were of those she loved, those she wanted to be with her now.

'Mommy...Daddy...Oniichan...'

* * *

Naruto was walking away from the Hyūga compound with his head hung low. Everything was crashing down around him. _Everything._

"Naruto!"

The blonde picked his head up at that familiar voice. "Sakura!"

The pinkette was clearly in a panic as she ran to her husband. She was worried about something and he figured that he knew already what it was.

"Do they know?"

"Yeah."

She cupped her mouth in her hands. Their friendship with the Hinata and Kiba and Neji was all ruined now. "Naruto...I'm sorry..."

"No, no, none of this is your fault. And it's not the kid's fault either. It's _my_ fault."

"No, no Naruto it isn't."

"Yes it is, and don't tell me it isn't."

Not knowing what else to do, they two of them came together in a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around his back and he ran a hand through her hair.

"I wish none of this had happened," Sakura said.

"Me too," Naruto answered. "But I want you to know something."

"What?"

"That no matter what, I'll—AAAAAGGGHH!"

Naruto fell to his knees. He was clutching his chest with both hands. He felt like he was being stabbed, brutally, from the inside out. It wasn't just his pain either, it was Kurama's pain too! In fact, it almost felt like the fox was being ripped right out of him!

"NARUTO!"

Sakura didn't hesitate, she immediately started using medical ninjutsu on his chest, demanding to know what was wrong.

"What's happening? Where are you hurt? Let me help you!"

"I-I don't know! S-Something's...AGH! Something's wrong with me! AGGHH!"

Naruto started disappearing. He was fading away as the intense pain was consuming him, tearing him apart from the inside out.

 **"NARUTO!"**

"Sakura...I can't—AGGHHH! I don't know what's happening to me?!"

The woman rapidly grabbed his hand and stammered out everything she could think of to say to him. "Naruto! Please stay with me! Fight it! FIGHT!"

"Sakura...I'm...I'm"

Neither of them could speak anymore, Both of them could feel tears falling. Neither one could help it, they came together in a kiss. A kiss that said what their voice would not.

Separating, he touched her crying face, smiled the warmest smile he could muster, and finished what he wanted to say. "No matter what...I'll always love you."

He pressed his lips to hers yet again, and they both let out the last of their love...

...And then, he was gone...And moments later, with a last few droplets of ters floating in the air, so was she...

'Naruto...'

...

...

...

 _Come gather 'round people_ _  
 _Wherever you roam_  
 _And admit that the waters_  
 _Around you have grown_  
 _And accept it that soon_  
 _You'll be drenched to the bone_  
 _If your time to you is worth savin'_  
 _Then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone_  
 _For the times they are a-changin'__

 _Come writers and critics_ _  
 _Who prophesize with your pen_  
 _And keep your eyes wide_  
 _The chance won't come again_  
 _And don't speak too soon_  
 _For the wheel's still in spin_  
 _And there's no tellin' who that it's namin'_  
 _For the loser now will be later to win_  
 _For the times they are a-changin'__

 _Come senators, congressmen_ _  
 _Please heed the call_  
 _Don't stand in the doorway_  
 _Don't block up the hall_  
 _For he that gets hurt_  
 _Will be he who has stalled_  
 _There's a battle outside and it is ragin'_  
 _It'll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls_  
 _For the times they are a-changin'__

 _Come mothers and fathers_ _  
 _Throughout the land_  
 _And don't criticize_  
 _What you can't understand_  
 _Your sons and your daughters_  
 _Are beyond your command_  
 _Your old road is rapidly agin'_  
 _Please get out of the new one if you can't lend your hand_  
 _For the times they are a-changin'__

 _The line it is drawn_ _  
 _The curse it is cast_  
 _The slow one now_  
 _Will later be fast_  
 _As the present now_  
 _Will later be past_  
 _The order is rapidly fadin'_  
 _And the first one now will later be last_  
 _For the times they are a-changin'__

...

...

...

The world was changed. The Hidden Leaf Village was gone. All of it. There was nothing left but a disaster zone rivaling even the ruins of the Hidden Whirlpool Village. Buildings were demolished, human skeletons of villagers and Leaf ninja long dead were littering the streets. It was like everything one knew was erased from history and replaced with an apocalypse.

There was one, only one living soul standing in the in the middle of all of this...Shinachiku Uzumaki.

'It's gone...All of it...Everyone...Gone...'

The boy was breathing hard, scratch that, he was hyper-ventilating. He could not fathom any of this. He tried he'd _really_ tried. But everything he'd feared would happen since Jōkā sent him that email had come to pass.

Or had it? He needed to be sure, and there was only one way he could be.

Running like a madman, he spent at least ten minutes running across the remains of the village, until he finally reached what was left of the village cemetery. He didn't know how long he spent searching for what he was looking for, and he prayed to anyone, any _thing_ who would listen, that he wouldn't find what he was looking for.

But he did. There it was. A single, simple grave. And upon it, a single heading: Uzumaki Naruto, hero of Konoha, dead at the age of twelve.

* * *

WHOA! That was a hell of a chapter! Seriously, so much happened in this one, and a lot of it was so shocking and emotional and action packed, that hopefully you have an idea why I needed some time on this one.

Okay, so, in case you haven't pieced the plan together from the last few chapters, yes, Mizuki's plan was to use the chakra gem to travel back in time and kill Naruto before he ruined his life. But of course, as anyone who has ever read or seen a time travel story can tell you, the slightest change can profoundly alter the future in ways you can't imagine. So you know what, I will leave it to you guys: try to imagine the events of the Naruto story, except in this timeline, Naruto dies at the start of the series. How different would everything have been if our favorite knuckleheaded ninja wasn't there. If any of you have any ideas you'd like to pitch for this possible alternate reality, feel free to let me know, please. I think one thing we all can agree on, the _Naruto_ world without Naruto in it is bound to be a very dark and tragic place...

Yes, I killed them, I killed all of Shinachiku's team...Or did I? As horrific and tragic as this scene was, remember what kind of story we are dealing with here. At this point anything can happen.

I also finally had Naruto admit the truth to Hinata and her family and, as you might have expected, it didn't go over very well. Personally, I feel the most bad for Kiba out of all of them. Even if his Naruto and Hinata never had any affair, just knowing that in some other timeline they got married can't be good for him to hear.

In speaking of Kiba, his line "I feel like I'm going to throw up" was a callback to "Terminator 2: Judgement Day." Miles Bennett Dyson has a similar reaction when the Terminator, Sarah and John finish telling him the story of how his research will one day lead to the creation of Skynet. Obviously these are very different stories, but I was imagining Kiba having to sit in a chair and just take it all in, much like Dyson did in that movie.

There were two DC Comics homages in this chapter as well, and both of them came from Jōkā. Right before he begins his massacre of his team, he tell them that he can't wait to show them his toys. That was a callback to the movie "Suicide Squad," where the Joker tells somebody the same thing.

The second homage came as he was being erased, referring to everything as a joke, as has been his life's philosophy. This is tribute to the Comedian from "Watchmen."

There was even a Marvel Comics reference I snuck in there too. The sound effect when Jōkā pulled out his spring loaded blade is the same sound effect the comics use for Wolverine's claws.

There is one more reference I threw in here, but this time I'm going to have a little fun and let all of you guess what it is. When Shikadai asks for Jōkā's password, he says it's WSJ111014. This is not just a random number, but a reference to a very specific thing. Personally, I think its pretty obvious to anybody in this fandom, but let me know if you figure it out.

Lastly, the song for which these last two chapters are named after. The song is "The Times They Are A-Changin'" by Bob Dylan. It's a very lovely song that has a good message and a soothing, relaxed beat to it, and it works very well in a literal sense to what has happened here, of course. I was inspired by it's brilliant use as the opening montage during the title sequence of "Watchmen," still I feel the best DC Comics adaptation that Zack Snyder has ever made...even though, yes, it is still vastly inferior to the graphic novel (now please don't come after me fanboys).

I think that's about all I've got for this time. Once again, sorry about the long wait, and also sorry if this chapter didn't necessarily go the way you were expecting. But on the plus side, we still have a long way to go before this story is finished. Where will it all lead us? Well you just have to come back next time to find out.

Until then, see ya!


	12. Chapter 12--Times Have Changed

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi back again with the next exciting chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I'm happy to see you all back again after the epic cliffhanger I left you all with last time. In this one, we're going to delve a little bit deeper into what's going on, and maybe even see the return of an old friend. Not to mention, we're finally going to get to something I'm sure a lot of you have been waiting to see for a long time.

So, with all of that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 12: Times Have Changed**

"Hello?"

A boy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted down yet another alleyway. He'd been at this for hours...Well, no, more likely it had been about thirty minutes, but for him it had felt like an eternity.

"HELLO?!"

The boy projected his voice as loud as he could, his eyes darting every which way for any trace of life. But there was nothing, no one, not a soul. Fuck it, even a stray dog or a cat would be a welcome sight right now.

 _ **"ANYBODY?!"**_

The boy yelled so loud that he felt like he'd strained his throat. Collapsing to his knees on the dirt road, he allowed the weight of the situation to overcome him.

'He did it...Mizuki really did it...Dad, he's gone... They're all gone... Mom... Hanami... Sarada...'

Shinachiku took a fist full of dirt into his palm and clenched up. Looking around himself, he took in the devastated war zone that was surrounding him. Shops, houses, apartment buildings, offices, all of it was in a state of terrible disrepair, or they were busted into, looted, burned down to cinders, or completely demolished.

He could hear the specks of dirt getting crushed between his fingers as his fist squeezed tighter. Storming back up to his feet, he threw his hand back open, allowing the small cloud of dirt to float in the air.

The boy reached into his pocket and pulled out is phone. He started making calls to anybody he knew. Sarada, Mitsuki, Shikadai, Inojin, Chōchō, Burandon, Sunako, Ōkami and Tsuki, Bōis and On'na, even Jōkā. Nothing but static!

"Fuck!"

He tried another number, his voice particularly desperate by this point. Even though he was only getting more static, he spoke anyway. "H-Hanami? Sis? It's me, oniichan. Look...I don't know if you're there, but if you are, I really need to know you're alright. Sis? ...Sis? ...HANAMI!"

Frustrated and heartbroken, he nearly chucked his phone across the street, before common sense prevailed again and he put it back in his pocket. Frankly, he was probably going to need it sometime.

He started kicking doors in, screaming for anybody that could hear him. All he was finding was blank, stale nothingness.

One door...Two door...Three door...six...eleven...twenty...thirty-five...fifty... Shina spent an hour busting his way into people's homes and finding absolutely nobody home anywhere... Well, scratch that, he did find other people, but they were all dead skeletons of the poor villagers and shinobi that met their grizzly end from whatever had happened here.

He decided to try one last place, the ruins of Ramen Ichiraku...all he found was the skeletal corpses of old man Teuchi and his daughter Ayame.

"Damn!" he cursed out loud for no one to hear.

Backing out into the street, he began to broaden his senses and could almost swear he could hear voices... Voices like screams. Every man, woman, and child that suffered here, he could hear their pain in the air, like a village of ghosts.

"Stop it!" Shina yelled as he clutched his hands over his ears in an attempt to drown the noise out.

He turned his head in the direction of the Hokage Rock. It wasn't destroyed, but it was in utter ruin. Even more notable, there were only four heads on the Rock, starting with Hashirama Senju himself and continuing with his brother Tobirama, then Konohamaru-sensei's grandfather, and ending with his own grandfather. Lady Tsunade, Kakashi-sensei and his father's faces were entirely missing, not because they'd been blown apart. No, it looked as though they had never been carved into the mountain at all.

"Dad..."

It was then that he noticed something else. The city was missing. There were no skyscrapers looming over the Rock.

'Son of a bitch! How far back did he go?'

Making his way further into the hellhole that had once been the Village Hidden in the Leaves, there were two more places that he felt he needed to visit. First he ran to the remains of the Konoha Hospital, noticing even in its sorry state that it looked quite a bit different than the facility where his mother worked every day. Storming through the almost haunted hallways, he found nothing but more corpses of fallen doctors, Leaf ninja, and patients.

"Mom!" Shina threw the door open to the room that, for as long as he'd been alive, led to his mother's office. All that was there was an empty room with a dusty old desk.

Closing his eyes in disappointment, he shut the door and made his way down the hallway and outside of the building.

He had one more place he needed to visit. Running toward the direction of the Rock, he threw the doors open to the Academy. He started opening every door in the building, only to slam them shut when they didn't contain a single other person. He searched every floor, but could find no one.

"Shizune?" He called out. "Shikamaru? Anybody?!"

Twenty minutes passed. He'd searched every room in the building by now...except one.

Taking a deep breath, he took hold of the doorknob that belongs to the door to the Hokage's office. He did not know what was waiting for him inside that room, and maybe he didn't want to know.

'No!' Shinachiku shook his head rapidly. 'No, I have to. It's the only way I'll know.'

Taking a deep breath, the boy turned the knob and pushed open the door...

"Dad?"

Opening the door all the way, what he saw was an almost haunting image. There was nobody in the room, but the room itself looked like a cyclone had run threw it. The large window looking out over the village had bee smashed with shards of glass littering the floor. Papers were torn up or burned, covering the floor and all of the overturned furniture. The Hokage's desk itself was scorched and slashed. His father's chair had been cut into with a blade, the interior cushioning yanked out and thrown onto the floor to add to the ghastly mess. Picture frames were torn off of walls. Drawers in the desk were pulled out and smashed. And worst of all, one of the walls had collapsed in, almost as though it had been smashed by some enormous creature.

Shinachiku took in the chaos as he slowly walked into the room. He paid no mind as he the paper and glass crumbled and cracked beneath his sandaled feet. He pulled out his father's old chair from the desk.

"Dad..."

Sitting in the defiled piece of furniture, the boy slumped his face onto the charred wood. It was gone, all of it was gone. And the worst part of all of it was that he had no idea how any of this could have happened. That chakra gem could have taken Mizuki anywhere, any time. Who knows how much he might have changed to have altered the present so much.

"I have to go back home. I have to make sure they're okay."

"They're gone...All of them..."

Lifting his head in shock, Shina was stunned that the was no longer alone in the office. A familiar boy with blonde hair equal to his own had wandered in after him.

"You..."

Boruto hesitated to say anything else; he was just as horrified, perhaps more so, by the state of the village as Shinachiku was. The elder blonde could read it on his counterpart's face.

Shina got up out of the chair and walked over to the boy in shock. "How are you still here?"

He received no response from him, only more stunned silence.

Impatient, Shina shook the boy in desperation. "Hey! Speak to me alright!"

Still no response...

"Bolt!"

Still nothing...

 _SMACK!_

A slap across the face was what it took to finally snap the poor boy out of his daze. Shina hated to do it, but he needed the boy's attention right now.

"Ow!" Bolt shouted in pain as he rubbed his cheek. "What the heck was that for?!"

"Sorry kid," Shina apologized, "but you and I may be the only people left in Konoha and I need to know whatever you know."

"Well you're out of luck pal, I'm just as lost as you are."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

"Well, my dad—I mean, _your_ dad—sent me back to your house after I got taken to the Hyūga compound."

"What?! I thought we had you in quarantine?"

"Yeah, well, I may have incapacitated Sai long enough to make an escape."

"You broke out of quarantine?! Don't you realize how much of a security risk that was?!"

"Don't judge me kid! You would have done the same thing if you were me! Anyway, Sai caught up to me and we got into a fight in the middle of the street."

"You mean the villagers saw you?"

"Yeah...including my uncle."

"Who?"

"Neji Hyūga."

That's when it all clicked for Shinachiku. "Oh... Technically, I think he'd be your first cousin once removed—"

"Whatever!" Boruto yelled in frustration. "My point is that he took me back to the compound with my mom and started grilling me about who I was and how I knew the clan fighting style."

"What did you tell them?"

"Not much. But that's when dad showed up."

Shina felt his stomach tighten up. "I see...So he told them who you are?"

"I think so. He told me the go back to your house and stay there."

"And then what happened?"

"Well, I was feeling pretty shitty about myself until my, err, _our_ grandma came and cheered me up. And then..." The boy did not want to finish going over what he'd seen.

Shina, however, would not be deterred. "And then _what_?"

Bolt paused before finishing. "...And then grandma and grandpa started clutching their chests like they were each having a heart attack or somethin'...And then they...they started... _disappearing_..."

As Boruto was trailing off, Shinachiku could only stare in horror. "W-What did you say?"

"Yeah, they just vanished. It was almost like...well, like they were erased."

Shina, heartbroken though he was, was nevertheless putting his brain to work. That last word the other boy had said somehow clicked in his mind. "Erased from existence..."

"Huh?"

"Listen," Shina started rambling, "while you were busy making your escape and getting into trouble with your family, my team and I were on a mission to capture a rogue ninja who had one of the chakra gems."

"Oh, you mean those glowing jewel thingies with the magic powers that brought me here in the first place?"

"Yeah, and my source told me that the one this guy had allowed him to control time itself!"

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious," he continued. "Anyway, we eventually found him, but we ran into a problem when we squared off against this...err, well this really, _really_ powerful shinobi, who kept us all at bay long enough for the guy we were looking for to use the chakra gem to go back in time."

Bolt felt his eyes gloss over in bewilderment before shacking his head to clear his mind. "I can't believe what I'm hearing. You expect me to believe this crap?"

"You're stuck here is a world where you aren't supposed to exist, aren't you? We're both the only two people left in all of Konoha after everyone else who know and love _literally_ just disappeared, aren't we?"

"...Keep talking."

"Anyway, I think whatever this person did, he changed history and somehow caused a whole new timeline to happen that ultimately led to the destroyed village we now see today."

"Okaaayyyy...How did you just figure all of this out?"

"I read something like it in a manga once."

 _[cough]_ "Nerd." _[cough]_

"What was that?"

"Nothing. So how the heck are we supposed to fix it?"

"If I'm right, then there's only one thing we can do. We need to figure out when the enemy traveled back to, go back there ourselves, and stop him before he changes anything."

 _"We?"_

"Yes, _we_." Shinachiku stared at his "brother" in total seriousness. "Look, you and I don't know each other; hell, we barely even like each other. But whether we like it or not, you and I are the only ones left, and that means it's up to us to fix this."

Bolt thought about it, before asking another question. "What makes you so sure?"

Shina turned away toward the broken window. Through it, he could see the entire ruined village. He stared at it before speaking again. "Because I have to believe it."

"Why?"

"Look out there!" Shina pointed out the window. "Don't you see that?! That's our _home_ out there! Something happened to destroy all of it. And the only way to change it back is to stop it from ever happening in the first place."

Bolt said nothing as he took it all in.

"Besides..."

"Besides what?"

Shina continued. "Besides, neither one of us should even exist right now anyway, but we do. That _means_ something."

"Okay kid, now you've totally lost me! What do you mean we shouldn't exist?"

The elder blonde sighed before turning back to his counterpart. "Have you ever heard of a former Leaf ninja named Mizuki?"

Bolt thought about it for a moment before answering. "I think I have. Some rogue ninja that my dad and Iruka-sensei stopped way back when dad was my age."

"That's right. A long time ago he tricked our dad into stealing a scroll containing a forbidden jutsu from the Third Hokage. He promised that if dad could pull it off he'd be able to pass the graduation exam and become a Genin. But really it was just a way to use him to get himself power."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"Dad wrote all about it in his book."

"Book?"

"Oh yeah, dad wrote a tell-all book about his life. Didn't he do that where you come from?"

"Hell no. He never did anything but work out of this stupid office every day."

"Oh...Well never mind. Anyway, it was Mizuki who broke the village law and finally told dad about the Nine-Tailed Fox being sealed inside him. One thing led to another and dad found the courage to step in and save Iruka-sensei's life by learning how to use the Shadow Clone Jutsu for the first time. After that Mizuki was arrested, stripped of rank, and sent to the Strict Correctional Facility for betraying the entire village."

"Wait a minute," Boruto stopped the speech, finally starting to understand where he was going with all of this. "You mean that this guy who you were chasing with the time gem—?"

"Was Mizuki himself, escaped from prison and using the gem to go back in time to get his revenge on dad before he ruined his life."

Bolt felt himself getting a huge headache. "Son of a bitch."

"You know," Shina butted in, "if my mom heard you talking like that, she'd whack you upside the head."

Bolt chuckled, "Yeah well, my mom would probably just shove a whole bar of soap in my mouth."

There was a shared laugh the two of them shared. It was more like a release for the both of them, even in spite of all that was going on...Of course, it wasn't long before the mood changed back to dealing with the task at hand.

"Okay," Bolt picked the conversation back up. "I _think_ I've got most of this. But there's still one thing I don't understand."

"What's that?"

"I still don't get what you meant when you said that the two of us shouldn't exist."

"Well think about it: if I'm right, and Mizuki killed our dad back when he was twelve—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hang on a minute! how the hell do we even know he did kill dad? Much less when?"

"Because after everything changed I went to the remains of the cemetery and saw dad's grave. It said he died at twelve years old."

There was no response from Boruto whatsoever, save for a dumbfounded, terrified silence as a cold, dark shiver went clear up his spine. Shinachiku took pity on the boy, knowing exactly what he was going through, but nevertheless, he needed to finish what he was saying.

"Anyway, if dad died when he was just a kid, then he never could have grown up to marry your mom, or mine. Hence, neither one of us, or our sisters, could have ever been born. It's as simple as that."

"But...But then how are we still here then?"

Shinachiku paused for three solid seconds before turning away from him and looking back out the window again. "I have absolutely no idea..."

* * *

Thirty minutes later, the boys were out of the office and back in the village. The dead and deserted streets were depressing enough but there was something that Shina knew that Bolt needed to see.

That's why they were standing here now, in front of Naruto's grave.

Boruto stared at the stone plaque, reading the engraving to himself: Uzumaki Naruto, hero of Konoha, dead at the age of twelve.

"Bolt?"

A cold breeze blew through the cemetery. The younger blonde could feel the chill brush across his whiskered cheeks and blow his hair and clothes, but he did not care in the slightest.

"Bolt, I...I know this must be hard for you. But now you understand why we need to work together to—"

"Serves him right."

Shina's face faulted in shock. "What did you say?"

"Serves the jerk right! All the bastard cared about was his damned village, never any of us. Never mom. Never Himawari. And sure and hell never me! The jerk can rot in his grave for all I c—"

Bolt never got to finish his rant because he then was on the ground, the very ground under which his father's adolescent body was buried, with an absolutely **livid** Shinachiku Uzumaki pinning him down.

"How DARE you say that?! You bastard! He's your father!"

"No! He's YOUR father! My dad's still waiting for me back home!"

"You might not have a home to go back to unless we stop this! Weren't you listening to a single thing I told you?!"

Boruto used his strength to push Shina off of him and knock him to the ground. "Why should I? My life's been nothing but bullshit ever since I got here. And it's all your fault!"

"MY fault?!"

"Yeah, _your_ fault! If you hadn't found that stupid purple gem in that cave in the first place, I wouldn't be stuck here!"

"I was doing my job!"

"Yeah?" Bolt raised his middle finger up for his counterpart to clearly see. "Well _this_ is what I think of you, your job, and your entire _fucking_ world!"

Shinachiku shook his head in disappointment. "Wow. You really are a complete brat." He then stood up and looked down upon the other boy, before turning his body away from him in disgust. "You know what, go do whatever you want. I really did want to help you however I could, but now, you can find your own way back home. Me? I need to find a way to save my dad first."

As the elder blonde started walking away, Boruto got back up in fury. "Hey!" Bolt shouted. "Don't you walk away from me! Face me like a man! Or are you just a coward?"

...

Shinachiku stopped. Had this brat _really_ just said that to him? Did this kid seriously have no capper on that big mouth of his?

"I'm the only one of us who's going to try and fix this. How does that make me a coward?"

Bolt clenched his fists. "You're all talk. You got a problem with me, face me now and got it over with."

Shina turned around to face him again incredulously. "Are you...Are you _kidding_ me with this? We're stuck in a goddamned apocalypse right now, and you want to fight me!"

"Damn right I do! You bring me to this hellhole world, you steal Sarada from me, your slut of a mom stole my dad from my mom, and now you're just going to leave me here to rot! Kid, every bone in my fucking _body_ wants to mop the floor with that pretty face of yours."

Bolt dropped all pretence and took a traditional taijutsu pose of his mother's clan. "Come on! Fight me!"

"No."

 _"What?!"_

"You heard me."

"So I was right. You are just a coward."

"That's not it."

"Then _why?_ "

Shina's temper reached it's limit. " _Why?!_ Because it's a waste of time, _that's_ why! Because we have to stop Mizuki! Because we need to bring dad and the village back! Because we need to get you home! And most importantly...because I'm **better than you!** "

...

...

...

 _Don't tell me what to think  
'Cause I don't care this time  
Don't tell me what you believe  
Cause you won't be there  
To catch me when I fall  
But you'll need me when I'm not here at all  
Miss me when I'm gone again, yeah_

 _I'm going down in flames  
I'm falling into this again, yeah  
I'm going down in flames  
I'm falling into this again_

 _Don't tell me how life is  
'Cause I don't really want to know  
Don't tell me how this game ends  
'Cause we'll just see how it goes  
Catch me when I fall  
Or you'll need me when I'm not here at all  
Miss me when I'm gone again, yeah_

 _Now, I'm all the way down here  
I'm falling  
All the way  
All the way down here  
I'm falling down again  
Now I'm falling down  
I'm falling down  
I'm falling down_

 _Now, I'm all the way down here  
I'm falling  
I'm all the way  
I'm all the way down here  
I'm falling down again now  
I'm falling down_

...

...

...

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

With a animalistic yell, Boruto lunged at the cursed elder blonde. Never before had one person infuriated him so greatly. Well, enough was enough! It was time to put this son of a bitch in his place, once and for all.

Bolt launched a mighty left hook at his opponent, but Shinachiku merely dodged it. Bolt quickly came back with a right hook, but Shina caught that with his hand while blocking an oncoming blow from his left elbow.

"Come on, you call _that_ an attack?"

Bolt pulled himself away from his opponent's grip and did a ninja leap backwards, landing on his feet. Just as quickly, he charged back using a series of taijutsu strikes aimed at key points on the elder blonde's body. Regrettably, because he was unable to activate the Byakugan of his mother's bloodline, this meant he was unable to see, and therefore unable to accurately target any of Shina's tenketsu.

Shinachiku, having received taijutsu training from Hinata herself, was able to recognize the boy's fighting style right away and new how to dodge it. As Bolt went in for a swift jab with his outstretched palm, Shina dropped down low to the ground before bounding back up with an uppercut to the jaw, knocking Boruto back on his ass.

Standing back up, Shina scoffed. "Oh come on! Have you _ever_ done this before?"

Boruto got back up and decided to finally screw the evenly matched taijutsu crap, instead putting his hands in a familiar sign.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Four identical copies of the boy puffed into existence, each of which took a fighting stance.

"Oh, _finally_!" Shina proclaimed as his got into his own stance. "Some excitement!"

With a rebel yell, the real Boruto led his clones into a barrage attack against sole standing Shinachiku. Now, Shina had been training with his father and with Konohamaru since he was kid, so dodging five opponents at once wasn't necessarily a major threat for him. Still, that didn't mean that he wasn't impressed with the level of coordination and unpredictability of the boy's attacks.

'Wow,' he thought as he dodged blow after blow from all sides. 'He's actually not so bad. Hell, his almost as good at shadow clones as dad or Konohamaru-sensei.

Finding an opening, he leaped out of the way of the barrage of Borutos and barrel rolled onto his side before getting back up. Quickly making his own hand sign, he summoned twice as many clones as his opponent had, charging them in two waves. The ensuing melee led to the four Boruto and eight Shinachiku clones all puffing out of existence, leaving only the originals behind.

"You're not bad kid," Shina told him. "I can see you've been well trained. Almost as good as me."

"Funny," Bolt retorted, "you remind me a lot of Iwabee."

"Who?"

"Some older kid that was barely ahead of me back at the Academy."

Something clicked in Shina's own memory. "Oh yeah, I remember him. He _was_ really good. But I outclassed him _years_ ago."

Boruto's eyebrow twitched in irritation. Clapping his hands together, the boy caused a change in his chakra nature that compressed the wind around him into a gale.

"WIND RELEASE: GALE PALM!"

Palm outstretched, he hit the air with enough force to knock the elder blonde onto his back.

'Whoa!' Shina thought as he tried getting back up. 'He can already change his chakra nature. And he's a wind user no less—SHIT!'

He didn't have time to think further as Bolt had pulled out a barrage of shuriken that launched at him at twice the rate of speed as normal, thanks to the force of the boy's wind jutsu.

Shinachiku's speed was also pretty damned advanced however, allowing him to dodge all but one of the boy's shuriken. The one that he failed to dodge only got close enough to cut his left cheek, leaving a thin line of blood to run down his face.

'I've seen Mitsuki used that technique before,' Shina thought wiping his face. Looking down at his sleeve, he scowled at the blood he'd wiped off, eve as still more flowed down to take it's place. 'Clearly I've been too easy on this kid.'

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Shina was brought back to attention again as two more Boruto's puffed into existence. The clones quickly focused their wind chakra and the real Boruto leaped into the air and allowing the clones to propel him forward by his feet, kunai drawn.

"BORUTO STREAM!"

Jetting through the air, Bolt took a quick slash at his counterpart and it looked as though it had gone clean through, delivering a potentially lethal blow...But when he landed back on his feet, he saw the elder blonde disappear in a puff of smoke and be replaced by a log.

'Damn! A substitu—WHOA!'

The real Shinachiku swooped in and tripped the boy over his feet as he leaped over him with an all too familiar glowing blue ball of chakra in the palm of his hand.

"Enough of this! RASENGAN!"

The attack made direct contact. The ground beneath the younger blonde turned into a large crater as it exploded around them. Looming over his opponent as the debris fell around them and the dust hung in the air. Shinachiku stared at the boy laying face up in the crater, grunting in pain.

"Have you have enough, or do you want some more?"

Stubbornly, the boy stood back up again. Shina let him take his time getting back to his feet as he cursed him out. "Go...to...hell."

Not saying anything, Shinachiku created two shadow clones of himself. As he stood there focusing his chakra into his hand and kept it contained, one of clones worked to help change the technique's nature, while the other made a second change to it's nature.

The technique took on a different form than the standard Rasengan. It now emitted four small white protrusions resembling blades from it's center, so it now looked similar to a fūma shuriken...And then, thanks to the work of the second clone, the jutsu, still in its current form, caught itself on fire!

'Holy shit!' Boruto stood there wide eyed in shock! 'He can add two changes in chakra nature to his Rasengan?! I've never seen it flaming like that before...Bah! Whatever. I've still got this.'

Bolt focused his own chakra into his hand. Changing it's nature, it started crackling to life in a violet aura. A flurry of purple colored electric energy flowed around his hand, ready to be unleashed.

'No way!' Shinachiku thought with wide eyes of his own. 'That's Kakashi-sensei's technique. When did this kid learn how to do that too?'

Squaring off in the crater, the cloud of dust still around them, one blonde stood with a violet electric jutsu ready to be let loose, while the other held his flaming ball of wind power in his palm.

Time stood still for about five agonizing seconds...And then...

"LIGHTNING RELEASE: PURPLE ELECTRICITY!"

"WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: RASENGAN!"

In a moment that felt like slow motion, the two attacks came together in an explosion of lavender sparks and a small twister of flames. The collision was so titanic that it could be seen from several kilometers away.

The craters was now five times the size it was before, and both combatants were blown well outside of the blast radius. Neither one of them could get back up at first, each grunting in pain. They each had to admit, the other one knew how to pack a wallop!

Standing up, they each eyed one another from several meters away. They both appeared dirty, with torn clothes, a couple of scratches and scorches, and they were both breathing very heavily. Clearly, neither one of them was expecting the other to put up this good of a fight.

Nevertheless, both of the boys circled around the crater as they made their way back towards each other.

'Son of a bitch...' Bolt cursed inside of his head as he kept walking. 'This kid's well trained... _damn_ well trained. I was wrong, Iwabee's go nothing on this guy...'

But then the boy smirked. 'No matter, my next attack will be put an end to all of this. Best part, he won't even see it coming...'

As he kept walking, he started gathering more chakra back into his hand to form yet another Rasengan...only this time, he also added his wind release into the technique. The ball itself actually appeared very small at first, but as more chakra built up, it started taking on a more standard size.

'That's it you bastard. Just a little bit closer and I can—AGH!'

Meanwhile, Shinachiku was making his own way towards his opponent, all the while trying to convulse with a certain Nine-Tailed Fox with whom he shared a psychic link.

'Dammit! It figures with dad gone I cant speak to Kurama anymore. Fine, I'll just have to rely on my own power to finish this. But what to do? He already showed he can match my Flaming Rasengan. Heh, I can't believe it, but I think this is the most effort I've had to put into a fight since Uragi...' He sighed as he realized that there might be only one option to end this once and for all, risks be damned. 'Mom wouldn't like it, but I might have no choice but to rely on _that_ jutsu...'

As he approached, he wordlessly puffed a shadow clone of himself into being. Shinachiku focused on gathering his chakra into his hand, working to maintain it's constant rotation and compression, while the clone pulled double duty by working to change both the jutsu's nature and shape. Soon, the jutsu took the same fūma shape as it had earlier.

'This will end it, I know it...'

Shina's plan was to change the jutsu's shape into a giant shuriken shape, much like his father had so often done, before changing it's chakra nature and transforming the jutsu into one entirely his own. This was only the second time he had ever had to use this technique, the first being that climactic final battle against the traitorous Taka leader Uragi Rimonō, that long year ago.

The change was coming. This kid wouldn't know what hit him... And then, everything stopped. Shinachiku was forced to completely drop everything he was working on as he felt a sharp, horrible pain going through his body.

"AAAHH!"

He fell to his knees. The pain was horrendous, worse than anything he had ever felt before. Worse than anything he'd ever felt at the hands of Uragi.

"What's...What's happening...?"

Grasping his stomach, he found the strength to look up at Boruto, only to see that he was experiencing exactly the same symptoms. The boy was down on his knees grasping himself in pain. Whatever kind of unique jutsu he was preparing was now forgotten because of what he was feeling.

And that's when he saw it. Something had changed in Boruto's right eye. It had turned blue, with a darkened sclera and a visible pupil. Shina had seen several different dōjutsu in his short life—the Sharingan, the Byakugan, the Rinnegan—but this looked like nothing he had ever seen before.

The oddity soon vanished from his notice however, as Shina felt another sudden pain go through his body. And then he looked at his hand...He could see **through** it!

'My God...'

He looked down at himself, his whole body was having flashes of transparency! They coincided with the intense pain he was feeling. When the pain stopped, so too did the vanishing.

He looked over at Boruto, and the exact same thing was happening to him. But for now, they was still whole, but only for now...

"Wha...What just happened?" Boruto asked. as he struggled to stand back up.

Shinachiku looked down in thought. "I don't know...'

"I think I do."

Both of the boys freaked out at the sudden, totally unexpected voice that had just showed up out of nowhere. Turning around, they saw that they were all of a sudden joined by a face that was a total stranger to one of them, but all too familiar to the other. And quite frankly, it was a face he had hoped he would not have to see again for a long while.

Standing there was a thinly-framed figure wearing a red spandex outfit with a black flak jacket and black belts and pouches holding all of his ninja weaponry. His gloves were also black with the red fingertips, and on his back he carried twin katanas blades. His face was covered with a mask similar to Kakashi's except that it was colored red to match his outfit and it covered his entire head save for a strip across the front that exposed his eye area.

"Who the heck are you?!" Boruto demanded in shock.

Shinachiku, meanwhile, held his head in his hand. "Bolt, meet Randamu, he's a... _friend_."

"Ah, you're so sweet Shina." the red and black ninja mocked. "But really, I see you boys are having a problem. Maybe I can help fill you in on a few things. Like what happened to your dad and maybe even how you boys are here."

"Wait a minute!" Shina chimed up. "If time's been erased, how can you still remember any of what came before? Or even remember who we are?"

"I have the power to see passed the Fourth Wall, kid. I'm naturally immune to all that time travel and alternate reality crap. I can remember everything from every single timeline and reality and parallel universe anywhere ever."

Shina stood there in an utter stupor. "...Oh...Actually, that might explain a lot about you..."

"Hey!" Boruto spoke up. "Could someone explain to me what the hell is going on?! Why the heck were we both disappearing just a moment ago?"

"Oh that?" Randamu asked, in a tone that suggested he really didn't care much. "That's just a warning you that you're both getting close to fading out of existence because your dad didn't live long enough to bang either of your moms."

"What?!" Bolt responded in shock.

Shina was equally shocked, but his reaction was a lot more...subdued. "Great Scott!"

Randamu smiled. "I know, it's heavy."

* * *

Yup! Randamu's back! Seriously, it's great to see one of the breakout characters I'd 'created' for "Shinachiku's First Adventure" make a reappeareance in the sequel. For those of you who are confused as to who or what this guy is, I highly encourage you to go read (or reread) that story as a refresher.

The idea of him somehow retaining memories of the original timeline in spite of the time travel is, admittedly, not my own. This was inspired by ItsJustSomeRandomGuy, a Youtuber best known for his popular "Hi, I'm a Marvel...and I'm a DC" series of videos. In one of his videos, he established Deadpool of having that ability as a consequence of breaking to Fourth Wall so much, and I just thought it made WAY too much sense to not use. Actually, I've got some plans to take even greater advantage of this down the road, so keep your eyes open.

To be clear, I do have a reason in mind for why neither Shinachiku nor Boruto have been erased from existence yet, but I will get into that in the next chapter.

On that note, the sharp pain and periodic fading away that the two of them are feeling is inspired by one of my absolute favorite films series of all time, "Back to the Future." In that series, characters undergo similar symptoms as they are being erased from existence.

Some of you might be wondering how Shinachiku was able to figure out as much as he did all by himself. This was meant to be an illustration of his intelligence, which I assure you he got from his mother's side. He doesn't have all of the answers, but he is smart enough to put the pieces he has together. He still doesn't have the answer for how he and Boruto are still around though...Or does he...?

Yes, I finally did it. I finally wrote a full on fight scene between Shinachiku and Boruto. I suspect a lot of you have been waiting for that, so here it is. And surprise, it turns out they're both pretty evenly matched. Like when I had him fight Sai, I did my research on Boruto, and he actually does have some pretty powerful jutsu, much like Shina does. Two of which I did not even show in practice, but very clearly foreshadow. The jutsu he was going to use on Shina before he started fading out was going to be his signature Vanishing Rasengan. Likewise, Shinachiku was preparing his Scorching Rasenshuriken before he started fading out. I also dropped a early tease of Bolt's dōjutsu as well, although I may or may not have bent the rules on it a little bit. It's supposed to react to unseen enemies and the like, not a reaction to vanishing from existence. But then again, Randamu does kind of come out of nowhere. Interpret that as you will.

In speaking of their fight, some of the dialogue early in that scene is taken from the animated movie "TMNT." Specifically, Shinachiku outright telling Boruto that he was better than him was based on Leonardo saying the same thing to Raphael in that movie. Shina also borrows a couple more of Leo's more cocky lines from that scene as well.

One more minor note, Bolt can use Kakashi's technique of Purple Lightning. This was something established in the Boruto anime that I edited into "Shinachiku's First Adventure." Why? Because they'd established that because Kakashi no longer possessed his Sharingan, he could no longer use his Light Cutter technique anymore. He could still teach it to others like Odaku and Sarada, but he can no longer use it himself.

The song in this chapter was "Going Down in Flames' by 3 Doors Down. I wanted a song that helped you get into Boruto's head in that moment. Also, the title was a bit of ironic foreshadowing given Shina's use of fire-related jutsu.

I think that's all I've got for this chapter. I hope all of you enjoyed it, and I hope to see you all again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	13. Chapter 13--Back to the Past

What's up everyone, thesaiyanjedi's back again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Once again, I have to apologize for the delay in getting this chapter finished. I thank you all again for your patience and I hope the chapter itself is to your liking.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 13: Back to the Past**

"Okay, start talking."

The three of them were back inside of Naruto's ruined office again. Randamu was sitting in the big chair...something neither of the two boys gave him permission to do.

"Ah, come on, I can't be the exposition guy. I'm too awesome for that sort of thing."

Boruto was going to speak again, but Shinachiku put his hand up to stop him. "Why don't you start with telling us how you can still remember who we are if history's been changed?"

"Oh, that? Ah what can I say? When you break the Fourth Wall, you bought it."

"What the heck are you talking about?" Boruto asked totally confused.

Shinachiku sighed before he tried to explain the best he could. "He claims that he can see through some kind of invisible barrier that separates real life from some sort of outside power that either views all or controls all of our actions."

Bolt blinked his eyes for three seconds of silence. "That doesn't make any goddamn sense!"

"Yeah, I know..."

Randamu decided to speak up himself. "Guys! Guys! Can't you just accept that there are forces in this world that none of us are privy to? That maybe the things we do and the decisions we make may not be our own? That maybe there is some sort of infinite multiverse out there that makes every decision we make immaterial in the grand scale of the cosmos?"

The boys looked to one another before they both turned back and shouted **"NO!"**

Randamu folded his arms. "Really? Then how do you explain that psychedelic vision quest you went on and that mysterious voice you heard after you touched the reality gem?"

Shina's face faulted. "Y-You know about that?"

"Kid, you don't even want to know about _half_ of the stuff I know."

"Who is he? That voice?"

"I can't tell you that. Not yet."

"Why not?!"

"Because the author doesn't feel like it's time to tell you any of that yet, that's why. We've got to leave something open in case he still has it in him to write another sequel, y'know."

 _"Author?"_ Bolt questioned incredulously.

"Oh yeah, there's an unseen force out there that is at work behind everything, several of them in fact. Forces that right now are typing away at their computers and writing their fanfics to turn our lives into whatever they want them to be."

"Bullshit!"

"No? Writers do it all the time for a number of reasons. For example, who do you think it was that orchestrated that big fight you two had just last chapter? And who now is going to erase part of your memory of it because one of his commenters reminded the author that you're not supposed to know how to perform the Vanishing Rasengan yet."

A second of silence later, both boys shook their heads in confusion before they turned back to their 'friend.'

"Vanishing what?" Boruto asked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, me neither," Shina agreed.

Randamu smirked beneath his mask. "I rest my case." He then turned his head to some nvisible, non-existent audience and said, "By the way, thank you for the heads up LokiJengi. We do try to stay accurate in these stories, but every once and a while these things get through. Enjoy your No Prize!"

Bolt looked off into the distance. "Who are you talking to?"

Shina groaned and pinched is nose. "This is his breaking the Fourth Wall thing that I was talking about earlier."

"Yep!" Randamu chimed in. "Pretty cool huh?"

Bolt all of a sudden leaped across the desk and jumped the red-clad ninja and smacked him right in the face.

"Hey jackass!" He yelled. "I've about had it with all of your crap! Just tell us what we want to know right now or else I'm gonna—!"

"You're gonna _what_ , kid? Kill me? Leave you two blondes the only ones left in the entire village without any idea what's really going on here? Yeah, that's real smart."

Shinachiku weighted his options and, no matter how much of a pain in the ass he was, Randamu was absolutely right. He was their only clue to figure out exactly what happened and how much had changed. And that meant that, no matter how much he really, _really_ didn't want it to be so, they both needed his help.

"Bolt, let him go."

In anger, the younger blonde got up off of his target in a huff and walked back over to the other kid.

"I can see where the common sense wound up in your multiversal gene pool," Randamu said standing up and dusting himself off.

"Randamu," Shina spoke, "please, whatever you can tell us about what's going on, both of us would indebted to you for it."

The missing-nin with the mouth smiled beneath his mask. "Alrighty, I guess I will tell you a little something, just because I like ya kid. This could take a while, so why don't you take a seat somewhere?"

As Randamu sat back down in the Hokage's chair, the boys found a couple of dirty, rickety old chairs on the floor that they picked up, dusted off, and sat down in. Bolt had his arms folded as he waited for this weirdo to finally start talking.

"Alright creep," he demanded. "Start talking."

"Well..." Randamu scratched the underside of his chin in thought. "According to the brand new memories working their way into my already overly-stuffed head, Mizuki used his orange chakra gem to travel back in time twenty-four years, to the day that his younger self tricked your father, Naruto, into stealing the Scroll of Seals. He murdered Naruto personally, and Iruka also, so that his younger self could fulfill his plan to give the scroll over to Orochimaru."

The boys both listened intently as the man in red carried on, but they each could feel a cold sweat running down the backs of their necks as he continued.

"Wait a minute," Boruto interrupted, "I thought Mizuki wanted to use the scroll to get power for himself?"

"No," Randamu stated, "he was doing it for the power the snake would give him in return. A mere Chūnin like Mizuki would never have been able to do anything with the scroll by himself."

"Yeah..." Shina thought out loud to himself as he took it all in. "I remember dad wrote in the appendix to his book that Lady Tsunade said that once."

"After that," Randamu continued, "Orochimaru added the techniques contained on the scroll to his personal catalog. This meant that when the day came for the Sound Village's attack on the Leaf Village during the Chūnin Exams, the snake was even more powerful than he was in the original timeline. The Third Hokage fell even faster than he would have before, and the Snake never lost to use of his arms either."

Randamu paused before he kept going. "Even worse, he taught some of the skills on the scroll to several of his minions, that way they were able to use them against Konoha ninja to hasten the downfall of the entire village."

Shina clenched his fist. "So in other words, Orochimaru's invasion was successful that day after all?"

"That's right. It was a massacre; _nobody_ was left alive except for a few lucky Leaf ninja and a small pocket of villagers. They got out like a troupe of cowards and never returned to Konoho again." He turned around to look out the window. "At least, not for a while."

"What do you mean?" Boruto asked.

"After a while, those few survivors and former Leaf ninja, along with a few pockets of ninja and villagers from other nearby villages, decided to come back and face the past, to try and do something to bring the village back. They were led by a former citizen of Konoha that they found out in their travels, somebody who was in a serious state of disillusionment over the way the world was, and he saw the village's destruction as a literal chance to wipe the slate clean and start over."

Shina's eye's widened. "You don't mean...?"

"That's right kid. You're old pal Uragi Rimonō. He hooked up with the survivors and his age, vision and experience made him a hero to everyone. Ironic, ain't it?"

Poor Shina was at an absolute loss for words.

"...Well," Randamu continued, "At least he was for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"At some point the old man and the survivors hooked up with old man Jiraiya and old lady Tsunade, until the they all got caught in the crossfire with Orochimaru and Kabuto again. Long story short, the three of them ended up having to sacrifice themselves so the others could escape. Uragi died a hero that day."

Seeing Shina's eye's gloss over in shock, Boruto instead kept the conversation going. "So what happened next?"

"Well, with the old buzzards dead in the dirt, somebody had to rise up and take their place. Turned out those somebody's were a trio of shinobi who were just students at the Academy when the invasion occurred, including the Third Hokage's own grandson."

Both of the boy's eyes widened as they asked as one: "No way...?"

"Yep. Konohamaru Sarutobi took over as leader of the Konoha Restoration Movement, as Uragi called it, along with his two lieutenants, Udon Ise and Moegi Kazamatsuri."

"So then why isn't the city back to normal again?" Boruto voiced his confusion.

"Wait!" Shinachiku interrupted before the man in red could answer. "Let me take a wild guess: Pain?"

"Pretty much," Randamu confirmed. "That Sarutobi kid was young and strong, but he wasn't careful enough in keeping his plans a secret. One of Akatsuki's spies infiltrated Sarutobi's inner circle and reported back to Pain, who personally came to wipe all of them out. They didn't stand a chance."

Shina felt his heart sink as it all started becoming clear to him. "So, those corpses out there...?"

"...Are all that's left of the new Konoha."

There was silence in the room, cold, dead silence. That is, until Bolt got so mad that he picked up a random piece of rubble and threw it at the wall. "DAMN IT!"

For once, Shinahciku did nothing to calm the boy down; frankly, he was feeling just as angry. Nevertheless, he needed to keep probing to get as much information as he could.

"Randamu?"

"Yeah?"

"What about the war?"

"What war?"

"The Fourth Shinobi World War. The one between the Allied Shinobi Forces and the Akatsuki."

"Oooohh, _that_ war. Yeah, that never happened."

"What? Why not?"

"Because there was never any need for one. With the strongest of all five of the great Hidden Villages wiped out, the tensions between the other four only got worse. This lead to a series of civil wars among the villages themselves until they each were weakened badly enough that Madara, Akatsuki and Sasuke were all able to join forces to wipe them all out. Thus, the Allied Shinobi Forces never came into existence."

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Hold on!" Boruto protested. "ALL five of the villages were wiped out! Just like that!"

"Uh-huh."

"And they did nothing to fight back?!"

"Of course they did. But with those three all working together, it was all too much for even the Kage's to handle, especially after Tobi let himself get duped into Madara's machinations and became the Ten-Tail's jinchūriki...and I assure you, they got a hold of the tailed beasts A LOT more easily, in this timeline!"

"Jeez..." That was all Shina could say as he took all of this in. "Wait, Mizuki wasn't there for any of this?"

"Oh no, Orochimaru up and killed his ass as soon as he got the scroll from him. Ironic, huh?"

"Hold on a minute!" Bolt interrupted. " Who the heck is this _Orochimaru_ guy anyway?"

Shina couldn't help but narrow his eyes in disbelief at what he'd just heard. "You can't be serious?"

"No, really,, I've never heard of this Orochimaru guy before. Who is he?"

After taking a moment just to process this, Shina went on to explain. "Umm...Third Hokage's student, one of the Legendary Sannin, rogue ninja and one time public enemy number one of the Hidden Leaf Village, leader and founder of the Hidden Sound Village... _None_ of this is ringing any bells for you?!"

"...No."

Shina slapped his forehead hard at the boy's stupidity. 'Sweet Sage! This kid clearly got his smarts from dad...'

"You know, I'm surprised you don't know who he is kid," Randamu chimed in. "After all, one of your own teammates is his—Ooops! Never mind! Never mind! I forgot you're not supposed to know that yet. Just forget I said anything!" He then turned back to the Fourth Wall. "Phew! That was a close one. The poor author almost had to do another continuity mind wipe again. Sorry commenters, there won't be a No Prize for any of you this time!"

Boruto, feeling understandably weirded out, turned to face his counterpart. "Seriously, this guy is a complete whacko."

"For once, we agree on something," Shinachiku nodded, before a light bulb went off in his brain. "Wait a minute!"

"What?" Bolt asked.

"Randamu?"

"You know, you can call me Randy if you want kiddo."

"No way. Anyway, you mentioned before that the Akatsuki got their hands on all the tailed beast beasts and used them to resurrect the Ten-Tials, yes?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"So, that means that Gaara...?"

Now Randamu got where the boy was going. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Yes, Orochimaru did dupe the Sand Village into assisting the Sound in invading the Leaf, just like in the old history. The difference was that, obviously, they never did figure out that the snake had killed their Kazekage and they remained loyal to them until they'd fulfilled their usefulness and the Akatsuki just wiped them out too."

"And Gaara?"

"Was right there at the invasion, just like before. But without your dad there, there was nobody in the village that could match him, _or_ convince him to change his ways."

"What about my mom?" Boruto asked in worry.

"Hinata? I think that Neji kid sacrificed himself so she could escape with the survivors...only so she could die once they came back of course. Sorry kid."

Boruto hung his head and punched his leg in anger, Shinachiku looking on in pity.

"Actually," Randamu thought back, "if I remember rightly, I think a lot of the Rookie 8 got out of the village that day...I mean, I _think_ so. I can't quite remember."

"What about Team 7?" Shinachiku spoke again.

"Oh, well, um..." Randamu had to think about it before he continued any further. "The thing is...well..."

"Well what?"

"Without your dad there, some nobody from the Academy got to graduate and was assigned to Team 7 in his place. I honestly don't remember who it was, but he died during the invasion."

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Same."

"What about my mom?"

"Well, with Naruto dead before they ever became a team, obviously your mom never got the opportunity to get to know him except as that annoying dead last from the Academy that the adults all hated. So, of course, she never got over her crush on Sasuke."

Shina couldn't help but wince. As admittedly unsurprising as that sounded, it still didn't mean that it was any easier to hear.

"So..." the boy continued, "...you mentioned Sasuke earlier. What _did_ happen to him? Did Orochimaru get to him?"

"Of course he did. Not long after the invasion actually. He and Sakura did escape with the refugees and within a month ninja from the Sound tracked him down and convinced him that Orochimaru could give him the power he needed to defeat Itachi. Same as usual."

The elder blonde sighed. This part was started to get really predictable. "And the snake took his body?"

"Nope, that part stayed the same too... Except..."

"Except what?"

"Well..."

"Randamu?"

"...Well, remember the night Sasuke left the village and your mother tried to stop him?"

Now it was Shina's turn to be worried. He was praying his head that the missing-nin wasn't about to say what he was terrified he was about to say.

"Randamu...did he...?"

The man in red sighed. "...Yeah kid. He killed her."

...

The boy fell to his knees. Imagined images of the horrific scene filled his mind as the pain, the heartbreak, the bloodshed. He could almost see it now, his mother bleeding out, on the ground as the man she thought she loved walked away from her and she fell into a cold, lonely abyss as her life faded away from her...

...

"Umm, kid, are you okay? I mean, I know I just told you how your dad's death created an apocalyptic alternate timeline where your girlfriend's dad killed your mom, but that's no reason for you to zone out or anything...Right?"

...

"Kid?"

...

Randamu turned back to the Fourth Wall again and shrugged his shoulders cantoonishly. "Was it something I said?"

* * *

It was hours later, and the three shinobi were now on the outskirts of the village. They were standing there in the middle of a big, empty grassland. This was once the site of the Uzumaki Estate, the luxurious, three floor mansion built by Minato and Kushina Uzumaki with the intention to raise their family in, later left to their son in their will. It was here that Shinachiku and his sister grew up, where they'd spent their entire lives...

But now nothing of that place remained. What Boruto had told him was right, it had all been swept away, like it had never existed.

"What happened here?" Shina asked in disillusionment to no one in particular.

"Oh!" Randamu chimed in. "I forgot to mention earlier that during Orochimaru's attack on the village, they actually found your dad's will and destroyed the house just for the hell of it."

At that point, the poor boy literally slumped to his knees and hung his head.

"Ah cheer up kid," Randamu told him. "Seriously, cheer up. You're glum attitude is becoming a real bummer."

Hey! Shut up before I break your nose!" Boruto shouted in defense.

"Easy! Easy! kid!" Randamu put his hands up to defend himself. "I'm just saying that things could have been worse."

Shina turned his head to stare down Randamu. "How could things possibly be any worse?"

"...On second thought, you're right kiddo, this world is pretty bleak."

At that point Boruto butted in again. "So what do we do now?"

Shina stood back up again, fists clenched. "We fix this." He turned his body around to face the other two people with him. "We find a way to go back in time and stop Mizuki from killing dad. If we can stop that from happening, we can set history back on course again."

The elder blonde started walking in the direction back to the village, passing his two comrades.

"And how the heck are we gonna accomplish that?" Bolt questioned.

"By going to the library?"

As Shina got further away into the distance, both Bolt and Randamu shared a look, then Bolt started walking away following after him.

Randamu held back, feeling one of the pouched on his belt nervously. For once, it was as if he was considering something, taking something seriously, before finally walking off after the boys himself.

* * *

 _Crash! Bang! Rip!_

Those were the sounds that were made as the three ninja tore threw every book and scroll there was to be found in the Konoha Library. The building was locked shit, so they broke into the place. And after so many years of neglect in this ghost village, the building and the knowledge within were, frankly, in extremely dusty and worn down condition.

After spending three hours sleuthing through the main library, Shinachiku decided that if what they needed wasn't there, then there was only one place left it could have been stored. So, they headed up to the Hokage Rock and climbed the stairs to the Archive Library.

They tore through every book and scroll the could find. None of them included the knowledge they sought.

"Bah!" Shinachiku cursed as he threw down another scroll. "Not this one either!"

"Hey kid," Boruto told him. "What makes you so sure that you're going to find anything on a time travel ninjutsu in here?"

"Because this is the data reserve for Konoha's most private and confidential information. Shinobi past and present, and other sensitive data on even some of our greatest enemies are stored here. You ought to know that kid."

Bolt scoffed in annoyance. "Pfft! Whatever!" The boy went back to searching through scrolls.

Pulling out another scroll, Shina then finally found something that might be interesting. "Hey Boruto! Randamu! Come take a look a this!"

The two of them came over to their friend an saw the scroll he had been looking at.

"What is it?" Boruto asked.

"Listen to this," Shinachiku explained. "It's a top secret documentation about the Source to the Ryūmyaku."

"The _WHAT?!_ "

"According to this, the Ryūmyaku is an ancient source of chakra that flows deep under Rōran, a kingdom surrounded by desert in the Land of Wind."

"Great!" So now we have to run all to way to the Land of Wind just to go back and save dad?! The trip alone will take days!"

Shina frowned. "Yeah, you're right. And even though it says something about _infinite power_ , that doesn't necessarily mean time travel."

"Well, what else could _infinite power_ mean?"

"Hmmm..." Shinachiku kept reading the scroll and his face faulted. "Oh, wait, never mind."

"What are you talking about now?" Bolt complained.

"The scroll also says that only the blood heirs of the kingdom can open and close the flow either way, which I doubt any of us are."

"So...in other words, you just called us over here to waste our time."

A large vein appeared on Shina's brow at Bolt's sarcastic comment. "It would appear so."

Bolt walked away cursing under his breath. Meanwhile, Randamu, who had not been saying anything for quite some time, finally decided to speak.

"Hey guys...?" he said.

"What is it Randamu?" Shina questioned as he was focused on looking through some other scrolls.

"Listen, I'm probably not supposed to tell you about any of this...but I know how you can travel back in time to save your dad."

Both boys stopped what they were doing and stared at the red-clad ninja in shock. _**"WHAT?!"**_ They both shouted as one.

Randamu scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Yeah, about that..."

Shinachiku stormed right up to the missing-nin and started yelling. "You mean to tell us you had the answer this whole time?!"

"...Yep."

"Then why the hell didn't you say anything before?!" Boruto added his own outrage to Shina's.

Randamu paused before saying anything more. "Because...Because I made someone a promise...That, and I run the risk of maybe pissing off some really dangerous people...Maybe, I'm not totally sure."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Bolt demanded.

"Come on, lets go to what's left of Training Ground 7 and I'll show you."

* * *

Less than a hour later, the three of them were standing outside of the village once again, in what was once the open grasslands on the border of the now burned down forest. This was the former Training Ground 7, where many shinobi teams, including Kakashi's own Team 7, had one been trained in the ways of the ninja. Shinachiku knew this place very well, it was here that, many years ago, his parents and his Uncle Sasuke had taken the infamous bell test, a test orchestrated by Kakashi-sensei to teach them their first lesson.

"Alright whacko!" Boruto scoffed with his arms crossed. "This had better be good!"

"Alright, alright," Randamu assured them, but then he stopped. "Before I show you, I need you boys both to promise me that you'll never share this with anyone else, okay?"

Shina paused before answering. "Just do it."

Nodding, Randamu reached into one of the pouched on his belt and pulled something out of it. He held it in between his thumb and index finger for the boys to see. It was something very, very small, like a pill. No! Like a...a capsule! Yes, it was a white capsule with a colored banding around the middle and a number 7 printed on it for labeling. On the top of the capsule was a flat, circle-shaped attachment held on by a spring, like a button.

"What the hell is that thing?" Bolt asked in utter confusion.

"Just watch."

Randamu pressed down on the circular button, making a clicking noise. He then threw the capsule off into the field in front of him. A mere second later, there was a large puff of smoke with a _BOOM!_ noise. When the smoke cleared. The capsule was gone, and in its place was some kind of bizarre contraption.

It was a kind of large machine, one that stood high above the heads of any of our three ninja. The machine was colored yellow, blue and black, and it stood on five long yellow legs and had five jet turbines on the outside of it that were emblazoned with the number 1. There were also these odd yellow protrusions that were place in between two blue circles. At the top of the machine was a large, egg-shaped dome.

"What the **hell** is that thing?!" Bolt yelled in shock.

"It's a time machine. What's it look like?"

 **"HUH?!"** Both boys exclaimed in disbelief.

"That's right."

Boruto pointed at the machine. " _That_ thing is a time machine?!"

"What'd you expect time machine to look like? A blue police box? Or a flying DeLorean?"

"What's a DeLorean?"

"Never mind. Anyway, this baby is your ticket back to the past."

"Where'd you get this thing?" Shinachiku questioned as he examined the machine up close.

"And how'd you get it inside that tiny capsule you showed us earlier?" Boruto added.

"Oh that? It's a handy little gadget I came across on one of my little adventures. you can fit vast quantities of anything you want into that tiny capsule for easy transport. A vehicle, a weapon, even an entire house."

"That's amazing!" Boruto exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Shinachiku agreed. "A person could literally change the entire world with technology like that!"

Randamu turned to the Fourth Wall. "No kidding. Maybe its about time somebody got to work, eh _science_?"

Shina walked up to the 'time machine' and placed his hand on it in fascination. "So how did you get this thing?"

"Kid," Randamu began, "I've seen and met things that your fragile little mind can't even begin to process. Remember about a year ago when I told you that story about that crew of pirates I came across that one time?"

"Umm...no."

Randamu's face faulted. "Oh...Well anyhow, I was on another one of my, shall we say, _unique_ assignments, when I can across this super rich, middle-aged woman with blue hair and a really short temper." He put his hands under his chin as he broadened his memory. "Actually, I remember thinking 'Wow, a few years younger and less sagging boobs and she might have been pretty hot."

The boys glanced to one another in confusion before looking back.

"Umm..." Boruto interrupted, "Can we get back on topic here?"

"Oh, yeah. Well, after I met her, I found out that she was working on a top secret research project, something she was telling nobody about, not even her husband, some overly buff guy with a bad attitude and a horrible haircut."

"And this time machine was what she was working on?" Shinachiku concluded.

"That's right."

"So this mystery woman you met, she figured out how to build a working time machine, and she didn't want to tell anybody about it because she didn't want it's power to fall into the wrong hands?"

"Oh hell no! She said she didn't want anybody to know about it because she was afraid of pissing off some genocidal purple cat god."

Boruto's eyes glossed over in a stupor. "A _what_?!"

"Yeah, crazy right? Said the dude's name was, err...Lord Beer, I think...Mmm, now I'm thirsty."

"GET ON WITH IT!" Both boys shouted impatiently.

"Gomen, gomen. She said she would get in big trouble with this cat god, or whatever it was, if he ever found out she was building the time machine, but she said she had to pursue it in the name of science. Even told me some ridiculous story about wishing for her old notes back from some giant dragon genie."

Boruto shook his head in disgust. "You're insane dude."

"No, I'm not." Randamu glares at the younger blonde. "I just act insane in order to keep my mind from _going_ insane."

Choosing to divert his attention from the increasingly awkward conversation, Shinachiku climbed up the time machine and looked inside of the glass dome. What he saw was an array of flashing lights levers, buttons and computer screens.

"So how does this thing work?" he asked.

"Come on down and I'll tell ya..."

* * *

"...And that's how the time machine works!"

The boys nodded in understanding, before Randamu turned back to the Fourth Wall. "Ambiguous lapses in narrative time. You know I love 'em."

"So all we have to do is flip the switches you told us and input the date and time and it will take us where we want to go?" Shinachiku asked to clarify.

"That's right."

"Wait!" Boruto interrupted. "How do we know for sure that anything will be different when we come back from the past?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked that kid. The blue-haired woman explained to me that when somebody went back in time with this machine to change the past, all that happened was that they created an alternate reality and when you go back to future you'll still end up back int he same timeline you started out in."

"What?!" Bolt shouted. "Then we won't really change anything! This whole trip will be useless. We'll still be stuck in this same hellhole future no matter what we do!"

"Don't worry about that kid. That's just the way it works most of the time. For you kids, I'm sure that everything's going to be alright and the world you come back to will be totally different than what you see now."

"Why do you say that?" Shinachiku asked suspiciously.

"Because the author of this fanfic thinks those rules of time travel make no goddamn sense, that's why! Now, are you two going to get going or not?"

The two blondes shared a silent look. It was a look that said everything with no words. These two boys, so different yet, oddly, so alike. And they both knew that, unless something was done fast, then neither of them could exist.

Shina turned back to Randamu and told him their answer. "We're in."

At that moment, both of the boys started feeling a familiar, intense pain coursing through them. Falling over, they both grabbed hold of their stomachs as Randamu looked on totally lost.

"Hey, are you kids alright? Did you you eat too much bad ramen or somet—HOLY SHIT!

Randamu panicked because, much like before, he started seeing the boys flickering out of existence. Thank goodness, like last time, it only lasted for a moment before they became whole again and the pain stopped. The boys picked themselves back up and got their bearing back.

"Okay! Seriously! Why the hell does that keep happening?!" Boruto demanded.

"Randamu?" Shinachiku asked the man in red, "Why do the two of us keep randomly disappearing like that? And how can either of us even exist anymore if our dad died before either of us were even born?"

At that, there was only one answer that the missing-nin could come up with to put the boy's concerns at ease. "Beats the shit out of me."

* * *

"Alright, you kids ready?"

"Yeah, good to go." Boruto punctuated his confirmation with a big thumbs up. He was sitting in a somewhat cramped spot as his partner for this mission was, for reasons of necessity, hogging to only seat.

In speaking of whom, Shinachiku was punching in the date he knew he and Bolt would need to travel to in order to complete their mission. To save their father from Mizuki's revenge, they would have to travel back twenty-four years into the past.

"Now boys," Randamu spoke again, "you do understand what I warned you about earlier, yes?"

"Yes, we know," Shina answered. "Don't go mucking around in the past any more than necessary, otherwise we could cause some catastrophic time paradox."

"Exactly! Trust me kid, _every_ time travel story ever written has this problem. Don't talk to anyone, don't touch anything, don't interact or interfere with anything! Just find Mizuki and stop him. And most important of all, never let your dad or either of your mom's see you! EVER!"

"Okay, okay! We get it! Sheesh!" Bolt was seriously getting impatient with this red-clad nut job and just wanted to get the hell out of here!

Randamu, at this point, sighed. "Well then, I guess that's everything." With that, the missing-nin with the mouth gave the boys a salute. "See you in time."

Shinachiku smirked. "Very funny. And Randamu..." Now it was Shina's time, in full and complete honesty, to give his old 'friend; a thumbs up of his own. "Thanks."

Randamu gave them the thumbs up back, and with that, Shina pressed the button that lowered the dome on top of the machine, sealing both of them inside.

The boys were no longer able to hear the outside world from within the capsule. It was just the two of them now.

"Shinachiku?"

"Yeah?"

Bolt paused for a moment awkwardly. "About what happened earlier?"

Shina shook his head. "Water under the bridge. It was just as much my fault too. Now come on, lets go save our dad."

"Right!"

After pressing another button, the turbines and rockets ignited, sending the time machine hovering into the air, energy surrounding it. The boys gave one final wave to their friend, who then waved back...just before the final button was pressed and the machine disappeared in a flash of light.

Randamu was left standing there, all alone in the wasteland that had been the Hidden Leaf Village. He just stood there, for once not with any quip or awkward joke. He was just thinking. What he was think about? Nobody but himself could know. But whatever it was, it caused him to frown before smiling to himself underneath his mask.

With nothing else to do, the ninja in red started walking through the apocalyptic scene towards the direction of the Forest of Death, his hands in his pockets and a carefree whistle on his lips...

* * *

And with that, Shinachiku and Boruto's time travel adventure has officially begun! Will they be able to stop Naruto's murder before it happens? Will they end up destroying history in doing so? Or will they fade out of existence before they even get the chance? You'll just have to come back next time to find out.

Alright, obviously one of the primary purposes of this chapter was to give a mandatory exposition dump as to what exactly happened in this new timeline after Naruto was killed during what would have been the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. There was a lot to think about here, and I imagine some of it seemed a bit sloppy. It wasn't easy figuring out an alternate for every single character if Naruto had never entered their lives. I decided to have Randamu tell us what was most relevant, and I happily leave it to all of you to fill in any more details on your own.

I know that some of you might be totally happy with some of the unfortunate fates I gave some of the characters in this timeline. In particular, that Sakura never got over Sasuke in this timeline and how, in this case, it led her to a tragic end. I'm sorry guys, but no matter how I considered it, I could not see Sakura being able to move past that infatuation is she never got to know Naruto beyond just that outcast, idiot kid from the Academy that everybody hated. The good news is, time travel can be used to fix that...maybe?

As for references, the awkward moment where the kids get their memories partially erased of Boruto's Vanishing Rasengan technique being used in their fight from last chapter was my way of meta correcting a continuity error pointed out to me by LokiJengi, hence why I had Randamu break the Fourth Wall and pay direct reference to him in the chapter itself.

Of course, we have to talk about how the boys are traveling back in time. Yes, they are using the time machine from "Dragon Ball." But before anyone starts criticizing me in the comments, I had already hinted in Chapter 16 of my story "Shinachiku's First Adventure" that Randamu has somehow crossed paths with characters from other Shonen Jump series before, what with my not-so-subtle "One Piece" joke in that chapter. In my research, I was not able to find any jutsu in the canon that allowed ninja to alter time (I'm sure there is one, but I wasn't able to find it myself). But by going this way, I was able to plant seeds for a broad idea I plan to embrace down the road.

The backstory that Randamu gives for how he got the time machine from Bulma was my attempt to write my way around the obvious plot hole with the ending of the Future Trunks Saga in "Dragon Ball Super." How could Bulma have given him the time machine if Beerus destroyed it? Well, she just built another one in secret under Beerus's nose. But wait, Beerus destroyed her future self's notes as well. Well, uh...she used the Dragon Balls to wish them back. Done! But why did she even agree to give a time machine to someone like Randamu in the first place? ...Well, that's another answer I happily leave up to you to figure out.

So, to be clear, the time machine that the boys are borrowing from Randamu is NOT the same one that Trunks use, or the one that Cell used. That is why the machine does not have Trunks's inscription of "HOPE!" written on the outside.

Oh! and Randamu's quip of calling Beerus "Lord Beer" was a nod to the pun that Akira Toriyama thought he was making when he originally named the character (long story, look it up).

And yes, I intentionally say in this chapter that I am changing the rules that Toriyama established for time travel in "Dragon Ball." Why? Because, as I say in the chapter itself, I don't agree with them. Trunk's actions in the past only created an alternate reality that didn't change his own future in any way. After the Cell Games were over, he ended up returning to the same future he originally came from. I do not agree with this, and frankly, it would make everything that the boys are trying to do totally pointless. Maybe its just me growing up understanding what I call "Back to the Future" logic of time travel that Toriyama's way of thinking is not in sync with my own thoughts.

As for Randamu himself, I found his portrayal in this chapter interesting. Yes he has a lot of jokes and insensitively like we are used to, but he also show moments of serious speculation for what he's doing and what is best for the boys here. Maybe there is more to this guy than we've been led to believe so far...

Oh, one more thing, I forgot to mention in the previous chapter, congratulations to Naruto Sakura Uzumaki for solving the in joke with Jōkā's password from Chapter 11. Great job solving the reference dude!

I think that's all I have for this time. Thank you all for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all back for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	14. Chapter 14--Back to the Beginning

Hey everyone, thesaiyanjedi here with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Once again, I need to apologize the delay in this chapter coming out. But I think you all will at least be intrigued with this one.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 14: Back to the Beginning**

 _Twenty-four years ago..._

A flash appeared in the skies above Training Ground 7, located outside of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The flash disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and when it was gone, what remained behind was a bizarre machine. Hovering in the bright blue sky, the machine was yellow and blue and black, had long yellow legs to make it stand, five jet engines to keep it in the air, and a clear dome at its top within which a sharp-eyed person could spot the two occupants piloting it.

With the roar of its engines, the machine made it's landing down to the forest floor, scaring away the bird and other fauna that were in the area.

When the machine touched down, the engines stopped and the dome cockpit opened up. Out of the machine came two boys with blonde hair, one older and with green eyes, the other younger and with blue eyes and two whisker marks on either of his cheeks. The machine had no ladder to help them get down from the height, so the boys needed to jump, not that that was a problem for either of them with the training each of them possessed.

When both boys made it to the grassy floor, the elder blonde went over to the machine and pressed a button on the outside of it. Instantly, the machine burst into a large puff off smoke and shrunk down into a tiny capsule. Picking up said capsule, the elder blonde quickly tucked it into his pocket for safe keeping.

"Wow..." Boruto said as he looked around. "You really think we're in the past?"

"That's what the readout said," Shinachiku answered.

"You sure we couldn't have landed the time machine any closer?"

"Its the safest plan. After all we can't risk anybody inside the village seeing the time machine, and this was the easiest place where we could land it without the burden of landing in the middle of the Forest of Death. Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei won't form his team for a couple more days, so nobody's going to notice us."

Bolt shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so brainiac. So how are we going to find Mizuki now that we're here?"

"Our best option is to lay low and be vigilant. We sneak into the village and keep our eyes out for anything suspicious. Mizuki is here for our dad, so as long as we say close to him, he'll show his face sooner or later."

"Maybe we should fill dad in on all of this, to help keep his safe?"

"No!" Shina shouted in a panic. "That's a terrible idea!"

"What's so terrible about it?! Dad's life is in danger!"

"Dad can't know anything about any of this! _Anything_ we or Mizuki do here could alter the future. And regardless of our two different world's, dad's life works out for him either way. The last thing he needs is for us to alter his life's original course in any way. Besides, he won't believe whatever we tell him anyway."

Bolt paused in thought for a moment before finally agreeing. "Fine. So guess we start walking to the village now, right?"

"Right," Shina nodded. As they started walking, the elder blonde explained his plan to get inside of Konoha. "Dad once told me about a secret route he found when he was avoiding the adults that used to chase him when he was a kid. Wee can use that to get through the gate without anybody noticing."

Bolt was confused. "What's wrong with just checking in at the front station?"

"What are we gonna say? That we're _time travelers_? They'll have us committed."

Bolt hung his head, having to admit that his know-it-all partner was correct. "I suppose our ninja registration cards won't be much use either?"

"No, their only valid twenty-four years from now. Neither one of us is even born yet!"

"Okay! Okay! I get it! So how do we find dad once we get inside?"

"Hmmm..." Shinachiku focused hard on all the possible places he'd be likely to go within the village. The Academy? Maybe, he would still be a student at this age. Ichiraku's? An even more likely possibility. His nasty old apartment? Maybe not at this hour.

And then it clicked. He realized the date they'd punched in and the earliest chapters from his father's book. It all made sense.

"Bolt," he said, "stay close to me. I know where dad is..."

* * *

The Hokage Rock. The great monument of the Konohagakure. To have your face carved into the side of that mountain overlooking the village itself was to achieve true immortality. It was the ultimate testimonial to the four greatest ninja in the village's history...

...Except on a day like today. Today, having your face on that mountain instead made you a target for a mischievous prank.

On this day, the faces of the four Hokage's were defiled by painted graffiti. Whirlpool shapes were painted on the kage's cheeks, lines of paint were slapped on to look like runny noses, and one of the faces even had a symbol of a steaming pile of poo on it's cheek.

And hanging there by a rope, paint brushes and cans in hand, was the delinquent young ninja responsible. Not a wanted criminal or a local gang member or rogue ninja. No, just a mischievous little boy with blight blonde hair, blue eyes, whisker-marked cheeks, a pair of goggles on his forehead, and big, big dreams.

"WHA HA HA!"

Twelve year old Naruto Uzumaki couldn't help but laugh at his handiwork. This would get under everybody's skin for sure. And indeed it did. The roof of the Academy was already littered with Chūnin and Jōnin yelling at the boy and reprimanding him for his vandalism.

"Hey! Stop causing trouble!" one of them shouted.

"Stop doing this!" screamed another.

"Look at what he did!" screamed yet another.

"You'll pay for this!" one of them threatened.

The boy turned himself around even while he was hanging in the air and just laughed. "Aw shut up you morons! None of you would be able to do something like this! But I can! I'm incredible!"

The shinobi stopped hesitating to leap after the boy, whom quickly untied himself from his robe and leaped far away form them staying out of their reach.

"HA HA! You can't catch me!"

Left on the roof was an old man with dark skin and below-average stature with grey spiked hair and a small goatee. The old man had pronounced cheekbones, a few wrinkles, a wart near his left nostril, and a few liver-spots. He was dressed in the customary hat and haori of the Hokage, along with a red, full-length kimono that was tied using a white sash.

'That boy,' the old man thought. 'There he goes acting out again. Minato, if you could see your son now.'

The boy kept jumping through the village, until he had managed to trick his adult pursuers into loosing him thanks to a well timed curtain that blended in perfectly with a nearby fence. When they were gone, he dropped the disguise and just laughed some more while scratching his head.

"HA HA HA! That was too easy!"

Of course, he'd dropped his disguise too early himself. Because standing right behind him was a man of average height and build with brown hair that that he kept in a ponytail, dark eyes, and most notably of all a scar that ran across the bridge of his nose. He was dressed in the standard Konoha shinobi outfit complete with forehead protector, sandals, and flak jacket, with his sleeves rolled up about a quarter of the way.

"YOU MORON!"

Naruto panicked and fell over, looking up at the man he knew all too well. "Oh no! Iruka-sensei! What are you doing here?!"

Iruka pointed at the brat. "No, what are _you_ doing here during class time Naruto!"

As Iruka was forced to personally escort the boy back, Shinachiku and Boruto were spying on the whole thing... Both of them were sweat dropping in embarrassment.

'Geez dad! It sounded pathetic enough in your book, but to actually _see_ it...' Shinachiku hung his head in shame.

Boruto was much less tolerant. 'Dear lord. Mom, what did you ever see in this guy?'

The younger blonde turned to the elder one. "So let me guess, we follow him into the Academy?"

"Yeah," the elder blonde concurred. "But lets stay discreet."

Iruka and a few other Leaf ninja escorted the young troublemaker back into the building, tied up with rope as punishment. The top half of his clothes were back on, completing his everyday outfit of a hideous orange jumpsuit that was every bit as loud and unsubtle as the Naruto himself was. The kids that saw him as he was being led inside mostly just shook the heads in disapproval or just outright ignored him.

"Can you believe what Naruto did this time?" one of the kids said.

"Yeah, what a loser!" another kid answered.

"Why does the Third Hokage or Iruka-sensei even bother with him? Why don't they just expel him and be done with it?" yet another student asked.

Shina and Bolt tried to keep their heads low as they made their way through the courtyard of the Academy towards the front door. The last thing they wanted was for anybody they knew from the future to start asking them too many questions.

"Remember, stick to the plan. Get in, keep a eye on him, get out if we get in any trouble."

"Yeah, yeah, I got ya!" Boruto turned his head to snap at his bossy partner, meaning that he was paying no attention to who was in front him. He bumped straight into another student and knocked that person over.

"AH!"

Bolt was quick to apologize and he stood up and held out his hand to help the person back up. "Oh! S-Sorry about that! My fault I wasn't looking where I...I...I..."

His voice trailed off from the shock of who was now on the ground because of him. It was a girl with fair skin and short, dark blue hair leveled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her pretty face. But the most striking feature of said face were the girl's eyes, white with a tinge of lavender, the signature trait of her clan. She was dressed in a cream-colored hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper right and left sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, with navy blue pants. The girl seemed very timid and shy.

"N-No, I'm okay," the girl said as she found the strength to stand up on her own., too nervous to take the boy's hand. "T-Thank you." She bowed to him in gratitude.

The girl ran inside, hiding a blush across her face that she did not even understand why she had. All she knew was that something about that strange boy seemed _really_ familiar to someone she knew...

Bolt just stood there is wonder as the girl ran into the Academy. 'Mom...'

"Bolt?"

"W-Wha?"

Shina spoke up again to get his attention back. "Hey! Come on man, we have a mission to accomplish here."

"R-Right."

* * *

Looking on as the Uzumaki boy was being dragged into the Academy building, a younger adult man of Chūnin rank with white shoulder-length hair with a slight hint of blue and green eyes dressed in the typical ninja attire of Konoha, including his forehead protector that he wore like a bandana, shook his head in disgust.

'Insolent little whelp!' Mizuki cursed inside his own mind. 'Lord Third should just order the demon brat's execution and be done with it! He's nothing but a nuisance! Always will be!'

The young man smiled to himself. '...Still, a failure like him would likely do anything to graduate. This could be my chance to get in with the Sannin himself.'

"Mizuki!" The two-faced shinobi was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of his co-worker's voice. "Hurry up! We've got class in just a few minutes."

"Oh, sure thing Iruka."

As Mizuki was walking towards the entrance, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning to react with ninja instinct, he felt the hand on his shoulder quickly leave to catch the kunai he reached for on his belt. The stranger's other hand clasped itself onto his mouth to silence him.

It was the that Mizuki got a good look at who his would-be attacker was. It was an extremely familiar looking stranger, one with the same hair and eye color as him, the same height, the same face (give or take a few age lines), the difference was that this stranger's hair was more unkempt was a lot more muscular and he was dressed in an open black vest, tight black pants, and a dark brown belt with silver rectangular buckle. He also wore a stolen cloak over himself to help conceal his identity.

"Relax yourself friend, I come in peace."

Maintaining hold of his prey, the stranger dragged him over to a far wall of the Academy where no one could see them. Once they were out of sight, he let go of his prey, who promptly got himself into a battle stance and pointed his kunai directly at the stranger's chin.

"You call me friend," Mizuki said, "yet you take me captive and pull me somewhere where none can see us?"

"Oh give it a rest kid," the stranger said. "If I wanted to kill you, you'd be dead already. Besides...you're the _last_ person in the world I'd want to see dead."

"And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I know everything there is to know about you Mizuki, including your goals, and the plans you're already forming for the Uzumaki boy."

Mizuki eyes widened in shock. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

The stranger smirked. "Don't be so secretive with me. After all you're right, the brat is gullible enough to steal the Scroll of Seals, and Lord Orochimaru would surely reward you handsomely for bringing it too him."

The Chūnin was too stunned to say anything more. This stranger, whoever he was, know everything, _everything_ that he'd been planning, including his plans to leave the village for greater power. He did not even register as he lowered his guard and his weapon down from its target.

"How...How do you know all of this?"

"That's a long story, one I doubt you'd believe."

"Who are you? You seem very familiar?"

"Let's just say that I'm a... _distant relative_ , and leave it at that."

"What do you want from me?"

"To help you. To put it simply, we _both_ have our reasons for wanting that Uzumaki boy gone."

Mizuki eyed this stranger suspiciously. Even though there was something oddly calming and familiar about him, he was not going to be the fool who let his guard down and be taken advantage of so easily.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Listen, and listen well..."

As the two of them got down to talking, the stranger kept his hand in his pocket, his fingers fiddling with a small orange gem that he was keeping close to his chest...

* * *

The two boys snuck into the Academy building with the rest of the students. They did get a couple of looks from a few of the kids, mainly because the both did look just a little bit too old to still be students, particularly Shina. Still, they just kept their heads low and kept walking, until they got near a restroom and quickly ducked inside without being noticed.

"How long do we wait in here," Bold complained.

"Long enough for all the kids to get to class," Shina answered as he peaked through the door.

They heard a toilet flush and a boy with messy brown hair, sharp black eyes, with vertical slits for pupils, and red fang markings on his cheeks came out of the stall to wash his hands. The boy was dressed in dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and a grey, hooded fur-lined coat, The boy eyeballed the two of because they were just crowding the door, they he awkwardly pushed his way through them and ran to get back to class.

"Hey," Bolt asked, "wasn't that—?"

"Okay," Shina interrupted, "I think the coast is clear now. Let's go."

The boys snuck out of the bathroom and into the now empty hallway. Quietly and noiselessly, they crept along the wall until they came to a door, peaking inside Shina could see Iruka-sensei in there with their father tied up on the floor. The kid was just brushing it off like he didn't care.

"I'm at the end of my rope Naruto!" Iruka reprimanded as the entire class watched. "Tomorrow is the Shinobi Academy's graduation exam and you've failed it two times already! This isn't the time to be causing trouble!"

Naruto adverted his eyes and pouted. "Pfft! Whatever."

Iruka grimaced at the boy's apathy. 'Why that...Fine!' He then spoke to the whole class. "Time for the Henge no Jutsu test! Everyone line up! Transform perfectly into me."

"WHAAT?!" Every kid in the class shouted in shock. Most of them were scowling in irritation at the source of their pop quiz.

On the other side of the window, the boys both had an odd mix of fascination and embarrassment at what they were watching. Boruto in particular was surprised, getting to see a younger, much, much less disciplined and, quite frankly, stupid version of his father that he had never seen before...Then again, he was also acting really irresponsible, that part felt way too familiar.

The watched as the kids lined up in front of Iruka and performed the Henge no Jutsu test. Shinachiku was taken aback when it came to a face he knew far, far too well. It was a girl, the same age as their father currently was, with fair skin, green eyes, a large forehead, and a beautiful head of pink hair with a red bow tied in it, kept noticeably longer than he was used to seeing from her. The girl was dressed in a red qipao dress with short sleeves and a zipper and white circular designs of her 'clan.' She also wore tight dark green bike shorts and sandals.

'Mom...'

"Transform!" A puff of smoke appeared and the girl turned into an identical clone of Iruka.

"Very good," Iruka said as he took notes.

The girl changed back in another puff of smoke. She started jumping up and down in joy at her success before turning to the boy who was next in line. "Sasuke! Did you see that?!"

"Next! Sasuke Uchiha!" Iruka said again.

The girl moved out of line and back to her seat. But as she did so she got close to the door and paused. "Huh?" Turning to the door, she stared at it for just a couple of seconds. 'That's weird, for a second there I could have swore I saw something... No, it couldn't be.' Brushing her thoughts aside, she decided to keep walking.

Shinachiku was decking under the window in the door and let out a deep breath. 'Phew! That was too close!'

"Geez!" Bolt said aloud. "Aunt Sakura really was just an annoying fan girl back then."

"Hey!" Shina snapped. "That's my mom you're talking about!"

"No, she's _Sarada's_ mom! Besides, we both just saw it! How could she have ever dumped Uncle Sasuke for my dad in your world anyway?"

"People grow up Bolt."

"I guess that's how dad moved on to _my_ mom then, huh?"

Shina didn't respond to Bolt's smartassed remark, but he did frown. Peaking in through the window again, he had to duck right away as Sasuke was making his way back to his seat. Like with his mom, it was weird to see his godfather as a child, just a boy in a navy blue shirt with his family's crest on the back, a pair of white shorts, and some white arm warmers.

Iruka spoke up again. "Next! Naruto Uzumaki!"

Their father was next in line. Standing behind his was a dark haired boy with his hair in pony-tail, and a platinum blonde girl with a purple dress.

"This is a waste of time Naruto," Shikamaru stated.

"Its all your fault!" Ino complained.

"Like I give a damn," Naruto brushed off as he stepped forward.

Getting into position, the blonde smiled as he gathered his chakra in front of Iruka. When the puff of smoke cleared, what stood before the instructor was not a copy of himself...but instead a naked woman surrounded in smoke with blonde pig tails blowing a kiss with a wink.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Poor Iruka had a killer nosebleed, naturally, as Naruto transformed back and laughed.

"WHAHAHAHAHA! I call that one my Sexy Jutsu!"

"YOU MORON!" Iruka yelled. "DON'T INVENT STUPID SKILLS!"

Sakura groaned and she slapped her broad forehead. 'I feel sorry for whatever girl ends up dating that idiot...'

As for the boy outside...well, you know, of course they were sweat dropping in embarrassment.

'Dear Sage, I hate that stupid jutsu of his!' Shina protested silently.

Boruto remembered a quote he'd heard once, from his Uncle Sasuke: _"He was once a quintessential loser full of weaknesses..."_

'You can say that again...'

"Hey there!"

The boys both gasped in shock. They knew that voice. Turning their head slowly, they saw the one who had caught them, and it was the most ironic person imaginable. It was a tall man with spiky silver hair and dark eyes. He was dressed is standard Jōnin attire, a flak jacket with dark blue pants, and a long sleeve shirt, with fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand. But his most distinguishing trait was the blue mask he wore over the lower half of his face, and his forehead protector that he allowed to drape over his left eye.

The man merely waved at the now terrified boys and waves as he closed his one visible eye. "Yo!"

...

As Iruka was still chewing out Naruto for his antics, the door suddenly opened and in stepped Kakashi holding the two boys by their shirts.

"I hope I'm not interrupting Iruka," he said, "but I caught these two paying hooky and peeping in through the window."

"Perverts!" Ino cursed under her breath.

Iruka stepped away from Naruto and walked up to the two boys as Kakashi set them down. "And who do we have here? I'm already reprimanding one troublesome student today, I really don't need two more!"

"G-Gomen Iruka-sensei," Shinachiku apologized, trying to sound as diplomatic as he could. "We'll just be getting back to class now."

"Say," Iruka paused, "you two seems kind of familiar. Do I know you parents from somewhere?"

Bolt's eyes drifted briefly to a confused, but otherwise unimpressed, Naruto. "Umm...maybe..."

"Pfft!" the orange clad blonde scoffed. "Who the heck are you guys?"

"Naruto!" Iruka chastised. "You go back to your seat and be quiet! We'll discuss your punishment after class."

"Aw man!" he whined as he took his seat.

"As for you two," Iruka turned back to the boys. "Since you're not in my class I can't punish either of you, so I'm going to be generous and let you both off with a warning. But if I catch either of you doing anything like this again, I **will** report you and contact your parents. Do I make myself clear?"

"Hai!" Both of the them spoke as one, beyond relieved that Iruka was letting them off with a warning instead of doing something that could seriously jeopardize their mission.

"Good. Now get going you two, back to class."

Bowing in respect, the boys left the room and went back into the hallway, the eyes of the entire classroom looking at them.

"The older one's kind of cute," Ino said aloud to no one in particular.

Shikamaru overheard her and rolled his eyes. "How troublesome."

Sasuke's eyes followed them as they left before dismissing them altogether. 'Weaklings.'

But it was Sakura and Hinata who were the most intrigued at the two mysterious boys that had left the classroom almost as soon as they left. Hinata was blushing again at the younger blonde she had bumped into earlier today, while Sakura was momentarily entranced by the older blonde.

'I might be going crazy, but I could swear I've met that guy somewhere before...'

"Hey Sakura? Are you alright?"

The pinkette turned to see a certain orange lad nuisance was trying to take a seat next to her. She promptly punched him in the stomach "Get away from me doofus!"

Naruto grabbed his gut as he fell down. "What did I do?"

* * *

After class was over, Naruto was on a scaffolding, back up on the Hokage Rock all over again...Only this time, instead of a paint brush, he had a wet towel in his hand in order to scrub the paint he plastered onto the face of the Hokage's faces today. He hated it, of course, but what could he do? Iruka was standing right there, watching him like a hawk.

"I won't let you go until it's as it has to be."

The boy just brushed it off. "Like I care. Its not like I have anyone to go home to anyway."

Iruka frowned in pity. He knew what it was like to loose your family when you were that young.

"Naruto..."

"What?"

Iruka tried to act as nonchalant as he could. "Well, uhm, if everything is all cleaned up...I'll buy you some ramen tonight."

The Chūnin avoided eye contact until he took notice of the stubborn boys instant change in attitude. All of a sudden he was smiling in excitement.

"OK! I'll work as hard as I can!" Naruto shouted full of enthusiasm.

...

Time passed, and after it was all over, the two of them were at Ramen Ichiraku where Old Man Teuchi and his daughter Ayami served them both a fresh bowl of miso-flavored ramen with extra pork, just the way Naruto liked it best.

The kid was already slurping up his noodles when Iruka spoke to him again. "Naruto?"

"Huh...?" He still had ramen noodles dangling from his mouth before his slurped them up.

"Why were you doing that to the monument? Don't you know who the Hokage are?"

"Of course I know! Basically those who inherit the Hokage title are the strongest shinobi in this village, right? And among them is the Fourth Hokage, a hero who saved the village from the Nine-Tailed Fox."

"Then why?"

"Well, one day _I'm_ going to be the Hokage title!" Naruto pointed his chopsticks towards his teacher. "And then I will surpass all the previous Hokage! And then I'll make the village acknowledge my strength!"

Iruka could only look upon the boy's declaration in surprise. Such a bold claim and so full of confidence. But how could he hope to achieve such a goal if he could not even graduate...?

"...Uhm, Iruka-sensei, I have a little request."

"What? You want a second cup of ramen?"

"No...Can I borrow your forehead protector?"

Iruka scoffed as his adjusted the item in question. "Oh this? No, no. This is what you get after you graduate. This is a symbol that you've come of age. _Maybe_ you get one tomorrow."

"Bummer!" Naruto complained, until his mind suddenly turned to something else. "By the way, who were those weird kids that showed up in class today?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen either one of them since this morning. They must have been from somebody else's class."

"Yeah, well, if they wanted to cut class then why didn't they just leave the Academy and do something fun instead. That's what I'd do!"

"And that's why you'll never graduate at this rate Naruto!"

"Gomen, gomen!"

Still, now that Iruka thought about it, he remembered the suspiciously similar visages the two boys shared. "Hey Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"You're sure you have no family living here is the village, right?"

The boy suddenly started looking uncomfortable. "Sensei, I don't..."

The adult took his question back right away. "Right, just forget I asked. Tell you what, let me pay for dinner and then I'll escort you back to your apartment. But I'd better see you in class for your exam tomorrow! Understood?"

"Hai sensei!"

* * *

"I still say we could have found a nicer place to crash."

Shinachiku sighed in frustration. "I already explained it to you, we're staying here to keep an eye on dad."

"What, you're expecting Mizuki be so low that he'd attack him in his sleep?"

"Maybe."

Boruto groaned as he saw a rat run passed him and through a hole in the vase of the wall. "Doesn't mean that we needed to rent a room for the night in dad's old shithole apartment building."

"It was the easiest way to stay close to dad. Look at me, I live in a three-floor mansion with my family and _I_ know better to complain."

"Wow, rich _and_ modest," Bolt remarked sarcastically. "You really are a boy scout, aren't you?"

Shina felt a vein appear on his head. "Just put up with it, alright. Besides, its only until we find and stop Mizuki."

"Speaking of which," Bolt spoke again, "I don't remember ever seeing him at the Academy today. Are you sure he's a teacher?"

"His younger self is. I'm surprised we never saw him either..." Something came over Shinachiku in the at moment. "Unless..."

Boruto caught on to what the other boy was thinking. "Unless future Mizuki has already gotten to the younger one! What do we do now?!"

"At this time of day, there's not much more we can do. Our best bet is to keep waiting for dad to come back home and make sure he settles in. Then, we takes turns staying up all night to make sure nobody tries to break into his apartment tonight."

Bolt groaned again as he had to admit defeat. "Guess you're right."

A little less than an hour later, Shina could hear footsteps coming down the hallway outside. "Head's up! I think he's coming!"

Both boys gathered by the door and kept in open just enough to see and hear Nruto coming home with Iruka walking next to him.

"Hey! Thanks again for the ramen, Iruka-sensei!"

"Sure Naruto. Just try to do well on the exam tomorrow. You know I won't be able to go easy on you if you fail again."

"Fine, fine. I'll try, I promise."

Iruka sighed, "Alright then, have a good night kid."

"Thanks." Naruto pulled out his key as the adult turned around and left. When he got the door open, he stopped and turned around. He could have sworn he felt somebody watching him.

'What the...? Naw! I must be imagining things.' Opening the door, he closed it as he went inside.

Shina and Bolt opened their door again and breathed a sigh of relief.

'Phew!" Bolt exacerbated. "That was close."

"Yeah," Bolt agreed. "Well, at least he's back home now. I'll take the first watch tonight then I'll come get you when it's your turn."

"Fine."

* * *

The night passed by without incident. Neither Mizuki nor any overzealous villager tried to murder Naruto in his sleep that night. Both boys took their turns and, to their relief, their dad was still alive for at least one more night.

The next morning, the two boys followed him into the classroom again, only this time they decided to use the henge jutsu to transform into two generic looking academy students so as to not attract attention after the other day.

"Hey," Boruto whispered to Shina.

"What is it?"

"I've been thinking about something."

"What?"

"Maybe we could give dad some pointers so long as we're here. Maybe help him pass the exam? Or better yet, maybe we could tip him off that Uncle Sasuke's going to defect to Orochimaru?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Why?"

"Our mission is the set history back on it's original course, not to alter it any further."

"But—?"

"At least with things the way they were it left the chance for both of us to be born. If we change any more than we need to, we could end up creating a timeline where neither one of us is born, even _with_ dad still alive!"

"Don't you think you're being a little paranoid?"

"No, I think I'm being _smart_! Its not our right to change the past for our benefit any more than it is Mizuki's."

"I'm pretty sure there's a big difference between us and Mizuki."

"You know what I'm getting at. Lets just go inside and make sure the test goes well."

"You mean that dad will fail."

"Exactly."

Bolt scoffed at how cold his counterpart sounded. 'What the hell does he know? If I were in charge, I'd be nice and let dad know how he can pass, maybe get some success in his life! Hell! Maybe if he were to pass now then Miuki would never need to tempt him to steal the scroll in the first place!'

Inside the classroom, the boys saw that Iruka was standing in the front of the class, but there was somebody else with him, someone who _really_ caught their attention, his co-proctor for this final exam.

'MIZUKI!' Both of them thought as one.

It was the young Mizuki, the one from the current timeline. The future one was nowhere to be seen. Furthermore, the young Mizuki was doing nothing to suggest any ill-content, save for eyeballing Naruto as he walked up the steps to take his seat.

Bolt's hand instantly reached for a kunai on his belt, but Shina reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wait," he ordered. "Remember, young Mizuki is supposed to be here. We don't make a move unless he does first."

Annoyed, Bolt shook himself free of the elder blonde's grip. The two boys promptly took their seats.

As they did so, Iruka and Mizuki shared a short conversation as Mizuki looked upon the students. "So, this is the next generation huh?"

"Yep. I think we've got some real promising talent this year."

"Of that I have little doubt."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing."

Iruka eyeballed his friend suspiciously. "Something about you seems different today Mizuki."

The Chūnin smiled. "Oh, lets just say I had a very interesting conversation with a distant relative yesterday. He gave me some...illuminating foresight into a possible career advancement."

"...I see." Iruka didn't know what to make of what his friend had just said, but he had known him for too long to suspect him of anything wrong.

"Well, I'll see you in the exam room," he said as he walked out the door.

"Yeah, see you there."

As for the boys, they had the unfortunate awkwardness of landing in the seats directly next to the very girls they each wanted to stay away from today!

"Hey," Sakura said toe boy next to her.

"Umm...hi." Shina, despite his disguise, was still blushing awkwardly and trying to advert his gaze.

"Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

"I don't think we've met. I'm Sakura."

"S-Shina. Nice to meet you."

Sakura nodded, before her eyes naturally diverted back to certain black hair boy. "Isn't Sasuke just the greatest?"

"...I guess." Shinachiku couldn't wait for this mission to be over with; man it was getting weird!

"You guess?"

"Well, ah, I mean...he's pretty cool, but...I hear that Naruto kid's pretty cool too."

Sakura actually laughed. "Haha! Naruto? Please, he's just a lazy idiot who can't even perform a henge right. All he ever does is play pranks and cause trouble for the rest of us."

"Sometimes people are more than they appear."

"Huh?"

Figuring he'd already said too much, Shina decided it was best to clam it up. This left Sakura to look back awkwardly, wondering what on earth this mystery boy could have meant...

Meanwhile, Boruto was having things any easier as he was sitting right next to Hinata. Of course, their interaction was a lot less verbal, mostly because Hinata was too shy to say anything to him. For his part, Boruto was trying to keep his own eyes from looking back at her, or to let her see the uncomfortable embarrassed blush on his face. It just felt so wrong that his own mom, at his own age, was sitting right there net to him!

'Geez! Let's just get this over with already This is getting _way_ too weird!'

Around that time, Iruka finally started speaking to the rest of the class. "To graduate, you'll have to do the Clone Technique. When you're called, come to the next room."

Naruto was panicking in his seat. 'Oh no! Not that one! That's my worst skill!'

One by one, Iruka called the name's of all the students who followed him into the exam room, where his and Mizuki sat at a table with neatly folded forehead protectors rest on it. After each student successfully performed the Clone Technique, they were allowed to take a forehead protector as proof that they'd passed.

Shinachiku and Boruto both passed the test with ease (after all, they'd already done this once before). Besides...they'd both learned from the best.

"Excellent!" Iruka said to each of them. "Please take your forehead protector. Be back tomorrow to meet with your Jōnin instructor to be assigned your teams. Congratulations!"

Both of the boys met outside of the exam room and hung around out of sight...until it was Naruto's turn to take the test. They could see he was not too thrilled about it.

Peaking through the door, they saw him standing in front of both his instructors and getting into position.

'But I'll do it!' he told himself. 'Just watch this!' "CLONE JUTSU!"

...Naruto created a clone alright...a very bad, deformed one that couldn't even stand up.

Iruka just stared at the distraught boy in disappointment. "FAIL!"

"AAAGGHH!" Naruto fell over and hit his head in comical fashion.

"Iruka," Mizuki said, "this is his third time, and he did create a clone. We could let him pass."

The young blonde's hopes lifted up when he heard that...

"No way Mizuki! All of the others created two clones, and Naruto only created one, and it was a useless one. I can't let him pass."

...And just as quickly as it had appeared, that sense of hope was gone, replaced not with heartbreak, nor disappointment, but with anger.

The boys had to quickly dash out to the way as their father came storming out of the room in a huff. He stopped when he could feel that they were there. "What do you want?!"

Shinachiku tried to say something. "I...well, we're sorry you failed."

"Just mind your own business, all right!"

With that, Naruto walked off to go outside. The boys could have sworn that they could see tears starting to form in his eyes also.

 _"He was once a quintessential loser full of weaknesses..."_

Those words from his Uncle Sasuke kept going through his mind as he saw his dad walking off...

"We could have helped him..."

"I wish we could...but that's not our mission."

Bolt turned to his counterpart with narrowed eyes. "So what is our mission then?"

Shina looked back in confusion. "You know what it is. We're here to stop Mizuki from killing dad."

"Yeah? Well so far we've been doing a whole lotta nothin'!"

"We're waiting for the right moment. We need to be careful we don't change the past."

"You mean that _I_ don't change the past."

"Huh?"

Bolt all of a sudden grabbed him by the shirt and forced him to look at him. "Hey! Don't think I don't know what you're up to nerd!"

"What are you talking about?! Let go of me!"

"Don't play dumb! You're just saying all this crap because you're afraid I'll talk to dad and convince him to stop crushing on Aunt Sakura so you'll never be born! Meanwhile, you plan to do exactly that so dad will never pay any notice to my mom so _I'll_ never be born!"

"That's ridiculous! Have you lost your mind?!"

"No! But I'll bet you have!"

Shina forced Bolt to let go of his shirt. "We don't have time for this. We've got to keep an eye on dad. This is the night that young Mizuki is supposed to dupe him into stealing the scroll. If old Mizuki is going to make a move, it's going to be then."

"Here's a better idea: how about instead of waiting for him to make his move, we instead go track him down and stop him before he even tries?!"

"There's too much on the line Bolt! We can't leave dad alone for a moment. We need to think before we act!"

"That's the problem! All we're doing is thinking and _no_ acting!"

"This is childish! We're waiting for old Mizuki to show himself, then we're taking him down. That's an order."

Bolt punched him in the face, knocking him down. "You're not the boss of me! You know what, I'm done with this crap! You wanna stay here and spy on dad all day? Go ahead! Me? I'm going out there to get some _real_ work done!"

As Bolt turned around to leave, Shina got back and shouted, "Bolt! Wait!"

But it was too late. Bolt was already out of the building, leaving Shina all alone to curse to himself. "Shit..."

* * *

Outside of the Academy, all of the kids were with their parents congratulating each other over graduating to becoming Genin...All that is, except for one lonely boy in an orange jumpsuit, sitting all by himself in a swing...

"Great job! That's my son!"

"Now you're a man!"

"I'm so proud of you! I'm going to make your favorite diner tonight!"

Naruto could hear it all. All that pride, all of that family happiness...and absolutely none of it was for him.

"Hey, that kid," a teen girl in the crowd said as she was the only one to notice him.

"Yeah," her friend replied, "that's, 'the kid,' and he's also the only one who failed."

The girls scoffed in disgust. "Well, that's a good thing."

"He shouldn't become a shinobi. Since he is—"

"Shh! We're not supposed to talk about that—Hey!"

Another kid from the Academy stormed out of the building in a seriously bad mood, not caring that he'd bumped into the two girls and just kept walking. He saw the orange-clad boy sitting on the swing looking sad...Then his noticed his eyes briefly looking towards a pink-haired girl surrounded by her happy parents, just before he pulled his goggles over his eyes.

"She's not good enough for you."

Naruto looked up in shock. "What did you say?"

"You deserve someone better than her."

The young blonde got off of the swing and got right up to the kid's face. "Get out of my face before I clobber you."

After pausing for just a moment, the kid did so, before stopping for just another moment, turning back, and saying one last thing: "Remember the scarf."

"Huh?"

The boy left Naruto to his own thoughts as he walked off...

Figuring that it was about time for him to go anyway, and wanting to get out of this depressing environment around him, Naruto left the Academy and started walking home in shame.

"I need to talk to you Iruka," The Third Hokage said to the Chūnin instructor, who had been staring at the empty swing that the boy had been sitting on.

"Yes sir."

* * *

Naruto walked home with his hands with his pockets and his head hung low. Three times. Three times he'd failed. Who was he kidding? How could he ever hope to become the Hokage if he couldn't even make one damned clone?!

'Iruka-sensei, why does he hate me...? Why do they all hate me...?'

"Naruto."

He looked up at the voice that had called him and saw someone familiar. "Mizuki-sensei?"

...

A short while later, the two of them were sitting on the balcony of Naruto's apartment, looking out upon the rest of the village.

"Iruka-sensei is a serious person," Mizuki told the boy. "His parents were killed when he was young and he had to take care of everything himself."

"But why does he only pick on me?!"

The young Chūnin looked at the boy and smiled. "He probably sees himself in you. He's probably thinking he wants to see you become strong in the real way. Try to understand Iruka's feelings, since you also have no parents."

Naruto tired, he really did, but he still hung his head in regret. "...But, I wish I'd graduated."

That was it. That was the moment Mizuki was waiting for. "In that case..."

"Huh?"

"...I'll tell you a special secret."

Down on the ground level, in a nearby alleyway, the elder Mizuki was looking up a the familiar scene smiling manically. 'Perfect, just as planned. And this time, things are going to go right.'

What he did not know was that he was not the only one looking up at the scene. Shinachiku was hiding in a dark alley. He also see old Mizuki from where he was hiding. 'Now I just need to lure him away somewhere where nobody will see us, then dad will be safe and this mission will be over.'

And there was one more person nearby, yet another blonde. He was not looking at the scene between Naruto and the younger Mizuki, no, his eyes were solely locked on the old Mizuki, and he held a kunai tightly in his hand and gritted his teeth.

'This ends...NOW!'

* * *

And there you have it, the first part of this time travel mission is over and Mizuki's moment to strike is upon us. And it already looks like Bolt is anxious to be done with it.

That's the fundamental difference between Shinachiku and Boruto in this chapter. One is thinking about the consequences of them being in the past and is being really careful about what they will do and when they will do it, while the other is far less careful, even willing to risk changing to past if it will get the job done. Also, I had to have somebody bring up the awkwardness of these two characters who should not exist in the same scene now both being in a position where one could erase the other from existence.

In speaking of which, lets go ahead and address the thing I'm sure has my fellow NaruSaku fans really nervous..."Remember the scarf." Okay, let me be clear that meant this to be ambiguous! I was letting the chapter flow naturally and as I was looking for something for Bolt to say to his father in this moment, this was the line that came up and, damn it, it just made too much sense for me not to use. Whether it is confusing Naruto because it never happened in Shinachiku's timeline, or if, like I assume is the case in "The Last," that it is a forgotten memory of Naruto's part, this would cause an off guard reaction of "Huh?" on his part either way. Don't panic yet, just trust me.

I called this chapter "Back to the Beginning" and that title is totally literal. We literally traveled back in time to the first chapter of the manga and the first episode of the anime. I was going off of the translation found on Manga Reader, so I apologize if the translation isn't 100% accurate.

There was a running gag of most of the people the boys run into have a brief moment of deja vu as they almost think they recognize them...except, ironically, for Naruto himself. I just found that really funny.

Actually, it was a fun challenge to have to go pack and write these characters as they were back then...which, yes, did mean I was forced to write Sakura as the Sasuke-obsessed fangirl she use to be. Oh well, it had to be done.

I wasn't totally sure how to approach the boys being around their moms in this time, so I settled for awkward blushing and trying to advert their attention. In short, think of Marty and Lorraine from "Back to the Future" but without the almost-incest stuff.

In speaking of "Back to the Future," the discussion Bolt and Shina have about why they landing the time machine so far from the village was inspired by the scene at the drive-in from "Back to the Future Part III," where Doc has to explain to Marty why they are talking the DeLorean so far away from Hill Valley just to go back in time.

Also, Shinachiku's line to Bolt: "What are we gonna say? That we're _time travelers_? They'll have us committed." was taken straight out of "Back to the Future Part II" when Doc shoots down Marty's impulse to go in and stop the cops from taking Jennifer back home in the future.

I think that's all I've got for this one. Thank you all so much for reading, and I hope to see you all back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	15. Chapter 15--The Night Everything Changed

Hey everyone, thesaiyanjedi back again with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure."

It's been yet another busy month for me, but I'm back again to pick up where I left off. Just how will the boys stop Mizuki's plans for Naruto? And will everything even go the way they want it to? Well, there's only one way to find out.

With that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 15: The Night That Changed Everything**

"The Scroll of Seals?"

"That's right. The Third Hokage keeps it inside his private residence. It has some pretty impressive jutsu inscribed on it. If you could get it and learn even one of them, I guarantee it would impress Iruka enough to let you graduate."

Naruto was at a loss for words. "Wow! Really?! That's awesome!"

Mizuki smiled. 'Perfect. The Nine-Tailed brat is sure to get what's coming to him soon enough.'

"So listen Naruto," Iruka continued. "If you want to graduate, all you need to do is get the scroll and bring it with you to a special spot in the forest outside the village gate."

"Huh? Why there?"

"Because it will give you plenty of time to practice before Iruka shows up to see you perform the jutsu."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense. Gosh! Thank you Mizuki-sensei You're the best!"

"Anytime. Now you'd better be going now."

Naruto stood up and clenched his fist. "Hai!"

With that, the boy was off heading toward the Hokage Residence. This left the young Chūnin alone smiling to himself. He even started chuckling. 'Hehehe. That was far too easy.'

Standing up, he decided it was time to begin the next phase of the plan. 'Even a moron like Naruto won't need much time to get that scroll. I better meet up with that relative of mine before it gets too late.'

In the alleyway, old Mizuki smiled in profound satisfaction. Everything was going just like last time. 'But now,' he thought, 'this is where things are really going to change.'

Shinachiku saw his father leap away and focused his attention on the elder Mizuki across the street. 'Alright Shina, you've got him right where you want him. Now I just need to get his attention on me before this goes too far. If I could only come up with the right distraction—'

"MIZUKI!"

The silence in the streets was cut off by a voice full of fury. Shina recognized the voice immediately. "Damn that kid!"

Both the old man and his younger self turned the source of the voice in surprise. There, standing in the middle of the street was a blonde-haired boy about Naruto's own age. Actually, he looked remarkably similar to the Nine-Tailed brat himself, only his clothes were different and he only had two whisker marks on either of his cheeks.

"Who the hell are you brat?" The young Mizuki said as he leaped down from the balcony he was standing on.

Boruto drew his kunai with his teeth clenched. "I'm here to kill you!"

"Kill me? For what?"

"I'm not talking about you dipshit! I'm talking about _him!_ "

The boy pointed to an alleyway as out of the shadows came the elder Mizuki, his cover now blown. "Well now, I'm impressed boy. But whoever you are, you made quite a stupid choice making threats against—"

Bolt was too angry to even let the older man finish. He just threw his kunai directly at the enemy's head...Of course, Mizuki was still far more experienced than Bolt was, so he dodged the blade easily enough.

"Quite an arm you have there boy," the elder Mizuki said in admiration. "But still, it was a foolish move for a mere child like you to face me alone."

"He's not alone."

Both Mizuki's turned in the direction of another voice. Out of the shadows came a slightly older boy with the same color hair, but with no markings on his cheeks. The boy held a grim expression as he stared to old man down with a more tempered version of that same hate the other boy held.

The younger Mizuki was totally confused now, but the elder just stared in utter disbelief at whom he was seeing. "N-No...That's impossible! You can't be here!"

" _We_ are."

The elder Mizuki only needed to glance at the other boy one more time to fully register who _we_ were. 'It can't be...'

"AAAAAGGGGHHHH!"

Bolt started attacking the old man with his fists drawn, punching him in the gut and kicking him in the leg, knocking him to the floor. Skidding past him, he recovered his weapon and drew it against his already standing opponent. Old Mizuki was forced to fight him off as Bolt came after him with a white hot rage that he had not seen since he faced this boy's own father on this very night so many years ago.

"Little bastard!" Young Mizuki drew his own weapon to aid in the fight, before the old man shouted. "Stop!" in the middle of his fight.

"You go! You need to be ready for the Nine-Tails! I'll catch up to you! Go!"

Sheathing his weapon, the Chūnin cursed to himself before turning to leave.

"Oh no you don't!" Bolt saw the young Mizuki turning another direction and made a quick hand sign. "You're not getting away! SHA—!"

"STOP!"

Shinachiku's words cut through the air and Bolt did indeed hesitate in surprise. That was all the time the younger Mizuki needed to get away. Meanwhile, the old man was still stuck having to pull off all of his diversion and counter taijutsu abilities on this mere boy he had never met until this moment.

'The way this child moves, his quick course corrections, his skill with a blade, it's far better than I would expect from a mere Genin. He's clearly been well trained.'

"MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Bolt didn't hesitate this time. He made four identical copies of himself that all came after the old man as one, each slashing away with a kunai.

The old man was just able to counter the five man assault before he pulled out a scroll and releasing from it a giant shuriken star that his threw with tremendous force. The real Boruto was barely fast enough to dodge the attack before loosing his head, while all four of his clones puffed out of existence upon impact with the bladed weapon.

"I'm impressed," old Mizuki stated. "Not many boys your age can hold their own against a Chūnin like that."

"Like I give a damn what you think," Boruto spat.

"Based on how you fight, I'd wager you've been trained in the ways of the Hyūga clan, haven't you?"

"What's it to you?"

"Nothing..." The old man smirked devilishly. "But please give my regards to Lord Hiashi's daughter, that whore of a mother of yours."

Something in Bolt's brain completely snapped. Channeling his chakra into his hand, he compressed it into a familiar spherical shape and charged at the older man screaming with that familiar white hot anger.

Old Mizuki kept smirking as he stealthily unsheathed a retractable, spring-loaded blade from beneath his sleeve. 'Come and get it.'

Shina's eyes widened as he got a very quick glance at the hidden weapon and, reacting on instinct, he made a quick hand sign of his own. "MULTI SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!

Two clones of the elder blonde appeared and quickly yanked Boruto away mere millimeters before his stomach would have been cut open by the swift swing of Mizuki's hidden blade!

Mizuki would have gladly attacked further, but he stopped himself when he could see what looked like other Leaf Village Chūnin and Jōnin seeing all of the commotion in the street and coming to investigate.

"Well boys, it's been fun," old Mizuki said, retracting his weapon back with a sheathing sound. "But I've still got an appointment to make with destiny. But don't worry, I'll deal with you later."

With that, the old man threw down a smoke pellet to disguise his escape. The boys were left coughing in the midst of all the smoke, and by the time it all cleared, the time traveler was gone.

Bolt quickly turned to the elder blonde. "Come on! We've got to hurry and find—OHF!"

Shina threw a quick, hard punch to the younger blonde's face, knocking him to the ground. Bolt glared upwards as Shina glared back in anger.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Consider us even." Bolt rubbed his cheek as he stood back up. "What were you thinking?! You blew my entire cover with that lousy stunt of yours!"

"I told you I was fed up waiting around and doing nothing!"

"And now, thanks to you, both Mizuki's now know we're here and our job just got that much harder."

Bolt angrily pointed the direction of the younger Mizuki took off in. "You're blaming _me_ for things getting harder?! What the hell did you stop me for?"

"We needed young Mizuki to get away."

"But he'll go after dad!"

"Exactly! Just like he's supposed to! Our job is to change as little history as possible! If that conflict between dad, Mizuki and Iruka-sensei doesn't happen tonight, dad might never graduate, and then who knows what might happen!"

"...I...I don't think—"

"NO! You don't think Bolt! You need to look at the bigger picture here! This isn't just about stopping Mizuki! This is about saving the future! The _right_ future! This is about everyone! Not _you_!"

Bolt paused for a long time after hearing Shina's words. Those few seconds felt like forever until he finally spoke again. "Shina—"

"HOLD IT! BOTH OF YOU!"

In a flash, the boys were surrounded by Leaf ninja and Anbu Black ops. Some of them had their weapons drawn, while others did not. Either way, all eyes were on the two of them, and they were surrounded on all sides.

"Don't suppose you've got any smoke pellets on ya?" Bolt whispered.

"...No." Shina sweat dropped in embarrassment.

"So what do we do now?"

Shina's eyes darted back and forth, eyeballing every adult shinobi surrounding them. He considered every option, and he came to only one conclusion. "We surrender."

 **"What?!"**

"Trust me."

Bolt glared in disbelief, before he cursed under his breath and put his hands up just like Shina was. A Leaf ninja came up and cornered the boys, binding their hands.

As they ninja troupe walked the boys to the a nearby detention center, the younger blonde whispered again. "I sure hope you know what you're doing."

"So do I."

* * *

The sun had gone down and the moon was full beneath a cloudy sky. In that silence, a boy in a bright orange jumpsuit was quietly sneaking around on the ledge of the Hokage residence, edging himself closer and closer to the window.

Opening it as quietly as he could, the boy snuck into the building and started making his way through the house on his tippy toes.

"Naruto!"

The boy stopped in panic at the familiar sound of the old man's voice. 'Oh crap.'

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage himself, stood there in disappointment as he held his pipe in his mouth. "What do you think you're doing in my house at this hour?"

Naruto knew that there was only one way he could get himself out of this. 'Alright, time for my secret weapon!' Turing around to face the old man, he made a familiar hand sign. "SEXY JUTSU!"

"WAH?"

The old man was passed out on the floor from a massive nosebleed in mere seconds, giving Naruto the opening he needed to get away, moving through the house until he reached the Hokage's private collection of books and scrolls. He went through each one until finding the one that Mizuki had told him about.

'Found it!' Naruto smirked.

Little did he know that the deceiving Chūnin was waiting on a ledge outside smiling as the plan was going just as he'd intended...

...

Just as Mizuki had told him, Naruto had taken the scroll with him into the woods outside the gate. He sat down on the forest floor with the trees looming over him as he opened up the scroll and started reading it.

"Let's see, the first jutsu is the..." He squinted his eyes to read the name more carefully. " _Shadow Clone Jutsu_? ...What the...! Why does it start with the thing I'm bad at?!"

* * *

Iruka was in his apartment, laying in bed while staring up at the ceiling. His mind was drifting, preoccupied with what the Third Hokage had spoken to him about earlier today...

 _"Iruka?"_

 _"Yes Lord Hokage?"_

 _"I understand very well how you feel...But he is very similar to you._

Iruka found his mind drifting back twelve years, back to the day his life, and the history of the Hidden Leaf Village, was changed forever.

 _It was in the middle of the night. Konohagakure was in ruins. With the moon full and bright, a giant beast laid waste to the village. Dozens, no, hundreds of villagers and civilians alike lay dead at the monster's paws._

 _"We have to stand our ground until the Fourth Hokage gets here!" one villagers shouted._

 _And in the middle of all of this, there was a young boy being forcefully pulled away from the action, kicking and screaming._

 _"Let me go! My mom and dad are still fighting!"_

 _The last thing Iruka could remember was the monster's gigantic, slitted eyes glaring down, almost as though it were looking right at him..._

 _KNOCK! KNOCK!_

Iruka snapped out of his daydream when he heard the knocking at the door. Getting off the bed, he walked over and opened it.

"Mizuki? What is it?"

The younger Mizuki looked like he was in a panic. "We must go to Lord Hokage's place! Naruto has taken the Scroll of the Forbidden Seal as a prank!"

Iruka was shocked. "WHAT!"

...

Within minutes, a full platoon of Chūnin and Jōnin had assembled at the Hokage Residence. All of them were fuming with anger at the boy's latest act of rebellion.

"He won't get away with this one Lord Hokage!" one ninja protested.

"Yes," the Third Hokage agreed, "this is a dangerous scroll forbidden by the previous Hokage. If used in a certain way, it could cause incredible danger."

Iruka gritted his teeth as he listened. 'Naruto...'

"It's been half a day since the scroll was taken," the Third stated. "We must hurry and find Naruto!"

"YES SIR!" All of the shinobi said as one as they immediately took off in different directions to track down the boy.

Alone, the Third Hokage sighed and decided to go back inside. 'Naruto, what on Earth are you up to...'

Taking a seat at his desk, the old man pulled out a crystal ball, one that he would use in private to help keep himself up to speed with all of the goings on in the village. Waving his hand over the orb, he did not see Naruto inside of it at first, but instead something else...

...

Iruka was getting exhausted. He had scoured all over the village, all the places Naruto would ever wish to go, and he was getting nowhere. 'I should check the woods.'

As he was taking off, the young Mizuki was grinning to himself as he rushed at full speed to his own destination. 'I'll spread the word throughout the village a little more, then we'll both get rid of Naruto and make it look like he disappeared with the scroll...then I'll finally be free to take it to the master.'

* * *

It had been hours since the boys had been arrested. They were currently sitting at a table inside a detention room, waiting for someone to come in through the door to speak to them.

"I don't get it."

Shinachiku turned to face Boruto. "You don't get what?"

"Why didn't he just kill us? I mean, we can just tell everyone who he is and they'll go after him."

"Its like I said before, nobody's going to believe us, and he knows that."

"So what now?"

"You been taught the Henge Jutsu, right?"

"Yeah?"

"We wait for the interrogators to come in and we ambush them. Then we transform into them and we walk out of here."

"That's it?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Nothing, I just though it was going to be a lot more complicated than that is all...But wait, why not just make a break before they arrested us then?"

"They already had us surrounded and we didn't need a whole platoon of Leaf ninja chasing us when we're supposed to be protecting dad."

"Yeah, but once we get out of here they're going to be out there looking for us anyway, aren't they?"

Shina sweat dropped. "Touché. Anyway, just follow my lead—AAHHH!"

Shinachiku kneeled his stomach over in pain. For a split second he could feel that same sharp pain in his stomach are before, only now it felt much worse than it had before.

"Shin—AAHHH!"

Boruto was overcome with the same unbearable pain. It was like some kind of phantom was stabbing him to death. Glancing over at his counterpart, he could see him flash out for a second, like he was being erased before becoming whole again. Looking down at his own hand, he could see himself starting to do the same thing.

"W-What's happening?"

Shina gasped for breath before answering. "We don't have much time left."

At that moment, the door opened and a pair of Jōnin came into the room, sitting down at the table in front of the boys. One was a large, imposing figure with a rugged head and face covered with old wounds and scars. His head was covered to conceal a collection of burn marks, punctures from where screws were used, and long slash marks. The other Jōnin...was Kakashi Hatake.

"Oh, hello boys," the Copy Ninja waved innocently. "Nice to see you two again."

'Crap!' Shina cursed to himself. 'Of all the ninja they could have picked, it _had_ to be Kakashi!'

As both of the grown ups sat down, it was the other interrogator, Ibiki Morino, that got straight down to business. "All right you brats, you two caused quite a ruckus in the street today. You two may be kids, but you're old enough to know that that kind of domestic disturbance won't be tolerated!"

The boys had to admit, they were feeling a bit put off by the force of the man's personality. Shinachiku remembered reading something about this guy in his father's book, this was the proctor that oversaw the written portion of the Chūnin Exam. He figured he'd better be careful what he said.

"Listen, I realize this must look bad, and I apologize for any harm the two of us may have unintentionally caused. But those men were plotting an attack on another citizen of this village and we felt an obligation to do something about it."

"Oh did you?" Ibiki questioned, totally unimpressed. "And I suppose that you two were also exercising you civic duty when you both were caught playing hooky from class yesterday. Am I right?"

Shina said nothing.

"Listen boys," Kakashi said, "I want to believe that you're just a couple of kids going through a rebellious phase by cutting class, but after you passed you exam today we went down to records to dig you both up and we found nothing. No names, no photographs, no registration. Its almost as though neither of you even existed until yesterday."

"...Umm...well..."

Ibiki suddenly slammed his fist on the table and started yelling. "You two are spies, aren't you?!"

"No! Of course not!"

"DON'T LIE! You were sent here from the Hidden Cloud Village, weren't you?!"

"No!"

"Then are you working for Orochimaru?"

"Not a chance!"

"Then who are you working for you little brat?!"

"No one! I swear!"

Ibiki then jumped out of his chair and grabbed the elder blonde by his shirt and lifted him in the air. "Who are you?! What is your name spy?!"

"Hey!" Boruto jumped out of his own chair to grab his interrogator's arm. "Let him go scarface!"

"IBIKI! That's enough!"

Kakashi's outburst was enough for the interrogator to calm down and throw the boy back into his chair, before taking a seat himself.

"I do apologize for that," Kakashi said. "My associate here has been through quite a lot in his career and he can be a bit... _stern_ at times." The masked ninja then turned to the younger blonde and narrowed his one visible eye. "But really, that _was_ a rude name to call someone after the trouble both of you are in."

Bolt swallowed a lump in his throat. Turns out Kakashi-sensei could be pretty intimidating when he was serious. "G-Gomen."

The Jōnin eye smiled. "That's better. Now then, why don't we approach this another way? Ibiki, could you give us a moment alone?"

"Excuse me?"

"Please, I think they'd open up more if you weren't intimidating them so much."

The scarred shinobi glared at the two children in front of him before he scoffed in frustration and stood up to leave the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door was closed, Kakashi dropped the nice guy act. "Okay boys, no more good cop, bad cop. I don't know who you are, but I do know that both times you've been in trouble you've been in the presence of the same person, one Naruto Uzumaki, the same boy the Third Hokage has a platoon of Leaf ninja on the hunt for right now. Now what do you have to do with this?"

Both of them shared a look before turning back and allowing Shina the speak for them. "Kakashi-sensei, I give you my word that we are not spies. But we _are_ here on a very important mission."

"For what village?"

"Umm...technically this one...sort of."

"...This isn't the time for jokes boys."

"It's not a joke. We have reason to believe that Naruto Uzumaki's life is in terrible danger."

Kakashi eyed the elder blonde suspiciously. "Why do you think that?"

"We have reason to believe that Mizuki is behind the theft of the Scroll of Seals, and that he tricked Naruto into stealing it for him under false promise that it will help him to graduate from the Academy."

Kakashi's eye widened. "What! How do you know this?"

Bolt grew tired of waiting and chose to just come clean. "Because we're from the fu—."

"BOLT!"

"Come on man, we don't have time for this! Da— _Naruto_ needs our help! And he needs it now!"

"I told you they'd never believe the truth! You want them to throw us in an insane asylum?"

"Hey! You were the one who chose to let them take us in instead of going after Mizuki! If we get erased from existence, it's going to be on _you_!"

Kakashi was listening back and forth as the two of them argued. To say he was having trouble keeping track of what was going on was an understatement. Still, something about this was giving off positive vibes and he figured he had better step in to bring some semblance of order back.

"Boys, boys! Calm down. Look, I don't know what's going on, but I want to. And I know neither of you want to risk getting on my bad side. That's why you haven't tried to incapacitate me and make your escape yet, isn't that right? Now why do you think Mizuki is plotting against Naruto?"

Shinachiku sighed. "Listen, I swear we don't have time to explain, but all you need to know is that Naruto's life is of pivotal importance the future of this village, and _not_ just because of the Nine-Tails!"

Kakahsi leaped out of his seat. "How do you know about—?"

"Because he's our father!"

...

The room fell into dead silence. So much silence that you could hear a pin drop. Kakashi's head snapped to Bolt after what he'd just blurted out, and then back to Shina, who hung his head.

"What are you talking about?" Kakashi demanded.

"Look," Boruto spoke before Shina could. " _He_ might want to play games for the sake of the space-time-continuum or whatever, but not me." He paused only for a moment before coming clean. "We're from the future. Naruto Uzumaki is our father. And if you don't let us out of here, then Mizuki and his future self are going to kill him and doom not just the Leaf village but the entire world."

Kakashi looked back at Shinachiku who, seeing no use in hiding anything now, nodded his head in confirmation.

...

Looking in on the scene through his crystal ball, Hiruzen glared at the two boys, contemplating what he was seeing and whether any of this could be trusted.

'Naruto's sons...Minato's grandchildren...Hmm...'

...

Kakashi was still taking this in. "Y-You mean to tell me that _you boys_ are Naruto's sons?"

Shinachiku clarified. "Same dad, different moms...That didn't come out right. I mean, we're kind of both from different alternate timelines where our dad took a different wife and had us in each—"

"That's enough!" Kakashi put his hands up in protest. "THAT'S ENOUGH! I don't have time for any ridiculous nonsense. There's no such thing as time travel, and if you boys think there is, then you need to go into psychiatric therapy!"

"But our dad's life is in danger!" Boruto shouted.

"Even if he is, we have Leaf ninja already looking for him now. They'll stop anything that comes for him."

"That won't be enough," Shina argued.

"And why not?"

"Because we've already seen the future without Naruto, and it's a nightmare. Konoha is in ruin, the other hidden villages are too. Enemies the likes of which you can't even comprehend will unite and destroy us without him."

"What are you saying?"

"...I've told you too much already."

"Then I have no reason to believe you." Having had enough, Kakashi made his way to the door, no doubt to call for reinforcements to take the boys away into solitary confinement.

In desperation, Shina decided to play a desperate trump card. "Do it for Minato."

The Copy Ninja froze. He could feel a cold sweat run down his neck as he turned around one more time. "What did you say?"

Shina spoke again. "I said, if you can't believe in us, believe in Naruto's father. Believe in Minato. Do it for your sensei. Do it for our grandfather."

...

Kakashi stepped away from the door and took a seat again. "Okay boys, lets talk."

...

At his desk back at his home, the Third Hokage continued watching the scene unfold, hanging on every word that these two mysterious boys had to say...

* * *

Naruto was resting on the forest floor, the scroll slung over his back, huffing and puffing in exhaustion. He'd been practicing all night and he was looking banged up as a result.

'Okay...I...I think...I think I've got it...'

The boy then noticed a shadow on the ground, and when he looked up, he was confronted with a clearly irritated Iruka. "I found you."

Naruto stood up and started laughing as he pointed at his teacher. "Hey! I found the nose-bleeder!"

" **Idiot!** I found you!"

But when Iruka got a good look at the boy, he noticed the current shape he was in, all while he was innocently scratching the back of his head.

"Hehehe," Naruto laughed. "You found me Iruka-sensei. Too bad, I only had enough time to learn one jutsu."

"Hey! You look all beaten up, what were you doing here?"

"Never mind that," the boy said excitedly. "I'm going to try an incredible jutsu. If I do it, you'll let me graduate, right?"

Iruka was taken aback. 'So, he was practicing here? Enough to damage his body...' Something about this didn't add up.

"Naruto," Iruka said.

"Hn?"

"Where did you get that scroll?"

The boy gestured behind him. "Oh this? Mizuki-sensei told me about it, and about this place too." Still in excitement, Naruto got into a simple hand seal. "He said that if I showed you this skill, I'd definitely graduate!"

Iruka was horrified as everything immediately clicked. 'Mizuki...'

All of a sudden, a flurry of kunai were flung directly at the two of them!

Iruka was quick to push his student out of the way before any of the blades could pierce him. This meant that Iruka got hit by several of them himself, pinning him up against the side of a tree.

Landing on the branch of another tree, the younger Mizuki looked down upon the scene, giant twin shuriken strapped to his back.

"Nice job finding the moron," he stated in disgust.

Iruka gritted his teeth as he was bleeding out. "I see. So that's how it is."

"Naruto, give me the scroll," Mizuki demanded.

"Huh! What?! What's going on here?! Hey!"

"Naruto!" Iruka shouted. "Whatever happens...don't give him the scroll! That's a dangerous scroll that has forbidden ninjutsu written inside it! Mizuki used you to get his hands on it!"

The boy gasped in shock.

"Naruto," Mizuki answered. "There's no point in you having it. I'll tell you the truth."

"NO! DON'T!"

But Mizuki paid no mind to Iruka's plea, never taking his eyes off the boy. "Twelve years ago...you know about the demon fox being sealed, right? Since that day, a rule was created for the village."

Poor Naruto was confused. "...A rule?"

"But, this rule was never meant to be told to you."

"Not to me? What is this rule? Tell me!"

The boy was only growing more and more tense as Mizuki started laughing. "What...kind of rule?"

Mizuki finally decided it was time for the truth to come out, once and for all. "The rule is that nobody is allowed to talk about the fact that **you** are the Nine-Tailed Fox!"

Naruto's eyes widened in horror. "Wha...? What do you mean?"

Iruka pleaded again. "STOP IT!"

"It means that you," Mizuki explained. "are the Nine-Tailed Fox that killed Iruka's parents and destroyed the village. You were sealed up by the Hokage you admire and—"

"STOP IT!"

"You have been lied to by everyone! Didn't you find it odd how everyone hates you?" Mizuki pointed at Iruka as he pulled out one of his giant shuriken. "Iruka is the same! He also hates you!"

"AAAAAGGGGGHHHH!"

Iruka's was shocked as Naruto's anger rose, and with it, so did his chakra. It became like a visible manifestation of all of his anguish, all his rage, all his heartbreak. As Iruka pulled himself free of the tree, the Third Hokage's words echoed through his mind all over again...

 _"He's never known a parent's love and is hated by all the villagers."_

The young Iruka readied his weapon. "Nobody will ever love you!"

 _"So to get attention, he causes a lot of trouble. He wants people to acknowledge his existence...In any possible way."_

"That scroll was used to seal you up!"

And with that, he threw his weapon...

...

But it never made it to the boy. No, he was still alive. Why? ...Because Iruka had jumped in front of the giant shuriken and took it to the back.

Naruto was horrified, unable to fathom what he'd just seen. Meanwhile, Mizuki was disgusted...for a moment, then he just smiled.

The boy could feel the beginnings of tears welling up. "Why...?"

Iruka found the strength to explain himself, in spite of the pain he was in. "My...My parents... After they died there was no one to compliment or acknowledge me... I always acted like an idiot, just to get people's attention...since I wasn't good at things like learning or making homework... It was better than being nothing...so I kept acting like an idiot.,, It was so painful..."

Iruka found himself breaking out into tears as he kept speaking to the boy. "Naruto, you also must have been in a lot of pain... I'm sorry Naruto...if only I had done a better job...you wouldn't have to feel like this."

Naruto stared, his eyes saying so many things: pity, regret, anger, sadness...it was too much. All of it was too much...And so Naruto did the one thing he could do... He ran.

"Naruto!"

Mizuki jumped down from the tree branch and walked up to Iruka's form. "Hehehe. Naruto isn't the type of person to have a change of heart. And I think he's planning to use the scroll to get revenge. You saw those eyes earlier, the eyes of a real demon."

But Iruka would hear none of it. He reached behind him and forcefully pulled the giant shuriken out of his back. "GAH!" He glared. "Naruto...isn't like that..."

Mizuki paused, glaring at the former comrade before him, before smiling evilly. "Maybe you're more right than I want to admit...Still, this is where we have to say goodbye old friend."

With that, Mizuki whipped out a kunai and plunged the blade directly into the chest!

"GAH!"

Blood was splattered all over the forest floor. Iruka had stopped moving. He was cold. So cold...

Smirking, Mizuki waved at the now former Leaf ninja and leaped into the woods. 'Now that that problem's taken care of, its time to track down the Nine-Tails.'

Iruka could feel his life fading away. He was gong to die here. He was going to be reunited with his parents again...But none of that was what was on his mind in his final moments. No, all he could think about was the sad, scarred little boy whom he'd failed.

'Naruto...I'm sorry.'

A line of tears falling from his eye, he could feel his lids closing, his life leaving him...And then he saw what looked to be a shadowy figure come into his view, kneeling down in front of him...

* * *

Naruto was running, running for his life. He didn't know where he was running to and he didn't care. All he knew was that he needed to get away. Away from Mizuki, away from the village, away from everything!

'It can't be true...It can't be...I can't be...the Nine-Tailed Fox...'

As Naruto was running through the treetops, he was too distracted by his own thoughts to notice a cloaked figure in the brush waiting for him. But when the moment was right, the mysterious figure pulled out a scroll and unsealed a giant shuriken of his own. Throwing it, it was enough to chop off the tree branch the boy's foot had just landed on.

"WHA?!"

Naruto fell threw the trees before landing on the ground with a thud. It was quite a hard landing too, enough to hurt his back. "AGH! What was that?"

The mysterious figure landed in front of him with a thud. The cloak hid his face from view, but you could feel the hatred radiating off of him.

Naruto was beyond confused, and a little afraid. "Who...Who are you?"

The figure pulled down his hood, revealing the older Mizuki, glaring daggers at the boy who ruined his life. "Don't you remember?"

Apparently Mizuki's face had aged a little more than he'd anticipated...Or the boy really was that dense, because Naruto had no idea whatsoever who was facing him right now. "Wait, do I know you...?"

Old Mizuki gritted his teeth. "Grr! You idiot! ...Oh well, it doesn't matter." He pulled out his giant shuriken again as he backed the boy up into a tree. "Because this time, you're _not_ getting the better of me."

Naruto couldn't believe all of this was happening. After all of the craziness of the last few minutes, now this stranger was going to chop him to pieces right here and now?!

He braced himself for the end as the weapon was thrown...

...

...

...

Except the critical blow never came. Why? Because the weapon had been deflected. By who? By two boy roughly Naurto's own age and with his same colored hair. One of them even had some whisker-like markings on his cheeks similar to his own.

"What the...?"

The elder Mizuki cursed. "Damn it! You brats again!"

"It ends now old man!" Boruto proclaimed.

"That's right," Shinachiku concurred. "You want to get to him..." He pulled out his favorite kunai while his counterpart drew one of his own. "...You've got to go threw us first."

Naruto could only stare in utter stupification at what was happening. "Who are you guys...?"

* * *

Well, there you have it, yet another cliffhanger, but now we have reached the big standoff. Finally, Shinachiku and Boruto are face to face with Future Mizuki, with their oblivious father having no idea what the heck is going on. I believe I said in the last chapter that I was planning this to be a two-parter, but as I was writing it, I found that it branching out beyond that. Not that I mind, it hopefully gives you guys all the more incentive to come back again next time.

Anyway, there was one reference in this chapter. When Bolt charged at the old Mizuki and the old man prepared to gut him with a retractable blade hidden under his sleeve, that was inspired by a scene from "Avatar: The Last Airbender." In the two part episode "The Day of Black Sun," Azula tries pulling a similar dirty move on Sokka, but Toph senses it and stops her in time.

I also want to point out the obvious double meaning of the title. "The Night That Changed Everything" not only refers the events of the very first chapter of "Naruto", but also the impact (or at least possible impact) that the boy's presence in the past is already having.

So yes, both Kakashi and the Third Hokage know the truth about where the boys come from. What will this mean going forward? Will they keep the secret? We'll just have to find out.

And...yeah, I killed Iruka. This was the altered fate that he tragically met in the original revised timeline, the one that was created after old Mizuki traveled back to the past, but before the boys did too. Think of it like this: in "Back to the Future Part III" there are three different versions of the 1885 history. There is the original history where Clara falls into the ravine to her death, thus the ravine is named after her; this is the history that exists for all of the the first movie and most of the seconds movie, until Doc got struck by lightning and was sent back to 1885 himself. Then we have the altered history, where Doc was in 1885 by himself and fell in love with Clara and where she never fell into the ravine, hence the ravine's name wasn't changed...but Doc was still shot by Buford. Then, finally, we have the third version that we see in the movie itself, where Marty goes back and joins Doc in 1885 and...well you all know how that version plays out.

M point is that we have a similar concept here. The original history went the way we all know it did, but once old Mizuki changed the past, Iruka died that night instead. But what about this time? And who is the mysterious figure that appears as Iruka's on his way out? Again, you'll have to come back next time to find out.

I think that's all I have the say for this one. Thank you all so much for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all back for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	16. Chapter 16--Father and Sons

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I know, I know, I'm _really_ sorry for the extremely long delay in this chapter coming out. It was a mixture of several things that contributed to the hiatus, some of them excusable, some of them not. Things like work getting really busy lately, which naturally led to exhaustion on my part, or other things like personal errands taking priority and eating up valuable time during the day leaving me little time to write. But on top of all of that, frankly, I also have a bit of writer's block and simple laziness at fault too. Anyway, I apologize to all of you again, and I hope you can forgive me.

Anyway, about the chapter itself, this one marks the end of the three-part adaptation of the original first chapter of the Naruto manga. Will Shinachiku and Boruto be able to save their dad before it's too late? What will happen to Iruka? Will Mizuki be stopped and the timeline repaired? You've waited over a month to find out, so let's not delay this any longer.

With that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 16: Father And Sons**

"Who are you guys...?'

Naruto stared in utter confusion at the two kids that had come to his defense out of nowhere. Wait...weren't those the same weird kids from the Academy? What the heck was going on here?

"You brats have no business here!" Old Man Mizuki shouted. "I've waited twenty-four years for this moment, and you two aren't taking that away from me now!"

"We'll see!" Boruto shouted, his kunai stretched out in defiance.

"Old man, for the Hidden Leaf Village, for the ninja world, and most of all for our family, you are under a—AAAHH!"

Shinachiku never got to finish his speech because he fell over grabbing his stomach. He could feel his breath stop for a flutter. Those that were looking at him could see him fading out and flickering away before reappearing again.

"Hey kid, are you okay?" Naruto asked, having no idea what was going on.

"Come on, get up! We've got to finish—AAAHH!"

Boruto fell to his knee grabbing his own chest. He started flickering out as well.

Watching all of this was Old Man Mizuki, fitting the pieces together, the missing nin smirked in satisfaction. "Well, well, it seems that Naruto's not the only one out of time, is he?"

Shina, still grabbing his chest, tried gathering his rapidly dwindling strength to focus his chakra into his palm to form a Rasengan...But the indescribable pain of being erased from existence made it impossible to focus on containing his chakra for such a technique. He then tried to throw his favorite kunai directly at the old man's head, but his enemy merely caught the weapon in the air and flung it back at him, landing right in his shoulder!

"AH!"

Shina grabbed the kunai by the handle and yanked it out with what strength he had, causing blood to spurt out violently all over himself and the forest floor.

"Hey! Are you okay?!" Naruto yelled at the mysterious kid's injury.

Mizuki spoke for him. "No Naruto, he's not okay, neither of them are."

As the old man stepped forward, Bolt gathered the last of his own strength to the try the taijutsu stances of his clan. Feeling that he wouldn't have any easier time focusing his chakra than his counterpart did as he was disappearing, he decided to fall back on his mother's clan's signature fighting style, hoping that a few precise blows to his chakra network would put an end to this for good...

...At least, that was the plan before the old man saw the blow coming and grabbed his wrist, breaking it.

"AAAHH!"

Both boys were in even worse pain as they could feel themselves about to disappear from existence any second. All the old man had to do was to kill his main target, and all three of them would be gone from this world forever. And that would be it. Game over. The future...everything they loved...All of it, gone...

"Now then, if there are no more distractions..."

Old Man Mizuki walked towards the young boy in the orange jumpsuit. As he did so, his body started to grow, turning him into a muscle-bound behemoth. But it didn't stop there, the transformation went even further. Looming over the boy was a being as tall as a man, but which looked more like a tiger.

The tiger raised his claws. Finally, after all these years...revenge at last...

...

...

...

* * *

"We should have killed him! Now we have to find him before he releases the demon's power!"

One of the Leaf ninja assigned to track down Naruto and recover the Scroll of Seals shouted what the most intolerant and narrow minded of his platoon were thinking. As far as they were concerned, that boy was a liability, a nuisance, a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off and plunge the entire village back into chaos. Always had been.

"He is very dangerous! If you find him, kill him!"

The rest of the ninja's squad mates agreed with his sentiment. There village would never truly be safe so long as the Nine-Tails was still alive.

...And that is what the Third Hokage was seeing through his crystal ball as he sat there in his office. The old man grumbled in disgust as he wiped the scene clean as channeled up a new, very different scene.

"I finally found him."

In the ball, Hiruzen could see Naruto running away through the forest in a panic. The fear and turmoil on the boy's face made it clear to the old man what must have happened.

"Mizuki told him. Now he is afraid like never before."

The old man hung his head in thought as he contemplated this alarming turn of events. 'The power that is sealed may be released, plus he is holding the Scroll of Seals...The odds of him being able to break the seal and change into the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox is one in a million...But it is possible...And if that happens...'

The old man looked into his crystal ball again and saw something new, something wholly unexpected. Naruto had fallen out of the tree and was being accosted by an older man in a cloak. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the man bore a remarkable resemblance to Mizuki.

'Wait...Could that be...Perhaps those boys were telling the truth.'

No sooner had he thought that then the two boys in question, the ones that Kakashi had interrogated, suddenly appeared to come to Naruto's aid. The older blonde and the younger one. If what he'd heard them say to Kakashi was indeed true...

'These boys...they might be the key not only to saving Naruto's life, but to saving all of our future's as well...

* * *

...

"Ugh..."

Shinachiku groaned out loud as he found himself in a familiar place. It was a long, dark hallways with metal walls and there was no light at the end of it. The floor was covered in water. It was like he was in a dark sewer.

"Where the...? Wait, I know this place..."

He knew this place because he had been here before, a year ago. But it made no sense that he could be here again...Unless...

'He's got to be here, he's the only one that can help us now.'

The boy groaned as he fell to his knees again. Even in here, he could feel himself still fading out. He didn't have much time, he had to keep moving. He needed to find him.

'Just keep walking...keep walking...find him...'

And so Shinachiku kept walking...

...And walking...

...And walking...

Until, at last, he came to a enormous room that housed a equally enormous steel gate. Emblazoned upon the gate was a giant paper seal. But that was not what was important to boy, not at all. No, what mattered was what he saw behind the gate.

It was a face, a gigantic, nightmarish face. In fact, you could hardly make out the face itself so much as the those burning, haunting, slitted eyes...and that monstrously wide grin with those teeth as sharp as swords.

'I found him...'

A mighty, threatening voice came through the gateway. **"Who are you?"**

The boy, still grabbing his chest, came forward dragging his legs through the water, until he stood before the gate, the creature's eyes glaring down upon him.

"I am Shinachiku Uzumaki."

 **"Never heard of you."**

"I know, but one day you will."

 **"How is if that you have arrived in this place?"**

"...Honestly I'm not sure, but this isn't the first time we've met...Well, I suppose it is now, but it won't be the last time either, if were lucky."

 **"You words make no sense, boy! They try my patience!"**

"I know, I know, it's a long story to explain."

The beast was silent for only a moment before speaking again. **"What do you want?"**

"I think...I am here for your help."

 **"Insolent child!"** The voice bellowed in disgust. **"You dare ask the likes of me for help? Why should I oblige such a request of the likes of you? Do you even know who I am?!"**

"Yes, the people of this village call you the Nine-Tailed Fox, but I know your real name...Kurama."

The beast roared with fury as it jetted it's monstrous claws through the gate, in an attempt to cut the boy to pieces. But the young blonde was standing too far away for the tailed beast to reach him.

 **"You dare say my name?! How do you know that name?!"**

"Because my father taught it to me."

 **"Who is your father?!"**

"The boy who you are currently sealed inside of. The boy who is about to be killed, and you along with him, unless you lend me your help."

The beast paused again, legitimately baffled at what he was hearing. **"That is not possible."**

"I know it shouldn't be, but I swear to you it is the truth. I am from the future, and so is the man trying to kill my father right now."

 **"How?"**

"Kaguya's chakra gems."

 **"...I see. But that still doesn't explain how you are able to be here, inside of Naruto's own mind."**

Now it was Shinachiku's turn to pause before continuing on. He really wasn't sure how to go about explaining this, what with the danger of altering the timeline and all. But time was of the essence, in more ways than one, so he decided that it was for the best to just come clean and simply confess the truth.

"I am here because many years from now, when me and my sister are born, you established a link between yourself and us, so we could absorb some of your chakra into ourselves for an added boost in power, if we needed it."

 **"Bah! And why would I ever degrade myself by doing something as disgraceful as that?!"**

"You did it because of my father."

 **"Foolish! Why would I ever help the kit who is my own prison!"**

"...Because he is your friend."

 **"He is not."**

"He will be."

Kurama growled. **"I could imprison you here with me."**

Shina smirked. "And then you'd die too, along with me and my dad. Do you _really_ want that?"

 **"..."**

"Didn't think so."

 **"...You know boy, I believe I do see a resemblance between you two now. That arrogance, the rudeness, you do remind me of the kit."**

"Thanks—AAGH!"

Shinachiku fell to the wet floor again. Even within his father's mindscape, he could feel himself fading away. Any moment now he was as good as gone. Neither he nor Boruto will have ever existed.

 **"And you are just as weak as the kit also,"** Kurama said. **"You ask me for my chakra, but what good will that do you when you can hardly stand up to fight? What makes you think you can face a foe like this in the first place? What makes you think you have it in you to win?"**

No longer able to see his own hand in front of his face, Shina took a good, long look at the room around him. Memories came flooding back, back to the battle for Konoha's soul, to the battle against Taka, to the final stand against Uragi.

And that was when he realized why he was really here. not just to plead to the Nine-Tails for his power, but also to remember...

"Because I won once before..."

...

* * *

 _..._

 _Inside Naruto's mind, the blonde Hokage fell to his knees in pain, and Sakura wasted absolutely no time running over to the love of her life as she rapidly began healing him. Karin ran over to him to, offering to let him bite her shoulder to help speed up the healing process. Like back at the Valley of the End, the priority was to cauterize the wound to stop the bleeding before more drastic medical attention could be given._

 _Sasuke readied his Chidori for one more strike against the tired, weak old traitor._

 _"NO!" a voice shouted. "He's MINE!"_

 _Shinachiku, still on a limp and mostly broken leg, vowed that he was going to be the one to end this...and he had just the right jutsu to finish the job once and for all._

 _'I'm sorry mom, I know I made you a promise...'_

 _He knew he'd made her a promise, but after everything else that has happened, this seemed like the only option he had left. 'I'm sorry mom...' "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"_

 _Two identical versions of himself appeared and began their work as Shinachiku started gathering his chakra..._

 _'Uragi must be stopped, no matter the cost...'_

 _"Hey!" Sasuke questioned aloud, "What the hell is that kid doing?"_

 _Only Sarada knew what her new boyfriend had up his sleeve. "Shina..."_

 _As Shinachiku gathered all of his chakra, with some minor help from Kurama, one of his clones was working on helping him maintain rotation and compression into a familiar shape, while the other clone focused both on changing the jutsu's chakra nature and its shape. The Rasengan formed in the boy's hand, before it emitted four large points around the central Rasengan core, resembling a fūma shuriken._

 _'Please...let this work...'_

 _Gradually the jutsu grew, taking a very familiar form that his father so often employed in battle...until, much like his other signature technique, the swirling wind shuriken started to change..._

 _"Yes! Its done!"_

 _The technique that the boy had created caught itself on fire, resembling a large shuriken that had been lit aflame on all sides, not just within the core, ready to scorch any opponent that opposed him! The jutsu let out a loud screeching noise accompanied by the whoosh of an intensely flickering flame._

 _"WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: SCORCHING RASENSHURIKEN!"_

 _Uragi, utterly tired and on the verge of passing out himself, now stared in some sense of fear at the boy's new technique. "No!"_

 _Hanami and Sakura stared on even as the latter was continuing to work hard to save her husband's life._

 _"Shina..."_

 _"Oniichan..."_

 _"URAGI!" the boy shouted. "This is where this story ends! This is where we win!"_

 _With that, the young blonde let out a rebel yell as he harnesses all the strength and endurance he had to stumble forward as fast and desperately as he could on his broken leg, his flaming jutsu still in hand._

 _Shinachiku kept stumbling forward, as Uragi tried to gather his nearly exhausted willpower to summon forth one more blast of power from the gem. As the boy kept walking forward, he fell to one knee from the intense, almost unbearable pain in his leg._

 _What kept the boy going, however, were the words that his father said to him before this adventure first began: "_ _This is where your story begins son, but that story is whatever you make it, so make it a good one!"_

 _'I will dad...I promise, I'm going to win!'_

 _And so, Uragi got himself back on one foot again as he pushed forward towards his enemy, finally making it._

 _"NO! NO!" the old man panicked in fear, himself too exhausted to gather any more power from the gem._

 ** _"AAAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH!"_** _With a mighty yell, the boy slammed his flaming Rasenshuriken straight into his enemies form._

 _The flaming blades of the Rasenshuriken burned and cut their way through the shielding the gem provided. Cutting through, the central sphere finally detonated, consuming Uragi's entire body in a vortex of wind and red hot flame. The old man screaming in agony as within the inferno he could feel countless microscopic wind blades striking him all over his entire body. It was so many blades that even Sasuke and Sarada could not count how many of them there were with their Rinnegan and Sharingan, respectively._

 _The wind blades, red hot from the effects of the fire, were damaging his body on a cellular level, attacking his chakra circulatory system itself, effectively shattering it to pieces._

 _Naruto, even in all his pain, looked on in amazement, but much more so in pride at what his son had accomplished. "That's my boy..."_

 _Shinachiku stared up as the jutsu was finally starting the die down and the inferno was weakening. Uragi's no longer moving body fell back to the ground, splashing head first into the water as the wind and fire dissipated._

 _"Its over." That was all Shinachiku said as he limped over to the body, now truly unconscious and just barely alive, and reached for the Power Gem..._

 _..._

 _But as soon as he touched it, he felt that familiar wave of power rushing back to him. That same power that had corrupted his own soul as badly as it had Uragi himself._

 _The boy could already feel it taking over his tired mind once again, his body beginning to glow with that aura of crimson chakra. 'The gem is mine...mine...'_

 _...And then, he felt another hand rest on top of his own, the two of them holding the gem together. Looking up in surprise, he saw her face._

 _"Shina!" Sarada cried out. "Look at me! I'm here for you! I won't let it take you again!"_

 _The boy was stunned, before he felt another, smaller hand take his empty one. "I won't let you go oniichan!"_

 _Hanami shut her eyes and grasped his hand tightly, true to her word, she never wanted to let go._

 _"Sarada...Hanami..."_

 _Shinachiku was cut off when he felt a strong, masculine hand upon his shoulder. "I'm here too son!"_

 _Looking up, he saw his father, his right arm missing but the bleeding stopped thanks to his mother's advanced healing, smiling down at him and filling him with warmth the way only he could._

 _"Dad..."_

 _He then felt another pair of arms warp themselves around his torso and hug him from the back. "Shina! Mommy's here too. Don't let it control you."_

 _"Mom..."_

 _He felt another woman's hand reach out to him by the arm. "I'm here too Shina!"_

 _"Aunt Karin..."_

 _Then he felt one last hand reach out to him, another masculine hand that rested upon his other shoulder. "We're all here! You've got to come back to us!"_

 _"Uncle Sasuke..."_

 _They were here, all of them. All of them were here for him...And that was all he needed to snap himself back to reality and overcome the lure of the Power Gem once and for all!_

 _It was just like he told the old man, about why he would lose while they would win today:_ _"You're alone...and I am not."_

 _The red chakra consumed the seven of them...And then the light subsided. The power of the gem retreated back into the palm-sized relic from whence it came!_

 _"SEAL IT!" Shinachiku shouted._

 _Sasuke quick unraveled a sealing scroll he kept on his person and made some quick one-handed hand signs to seal the gem inside the scroll...And just like that, it was all over._

 _The chaos of the battle had run its course. The enemy was defeated, the gem was secure, and the fighting was at an end._

 _Shinachiku Uzumaki took a deep breath before he looked around him to see his family and friends, and even a certain giant fox spirit, all smiling at him. He smiled back with a goofy thumbs up. "Thanks you guys..."_

 _...And with that, the boy passed out._

* * *

"Hmm..."

The boy smiled as he used all of his rapidly draining strength to stand back up, even as he was flickering in and out, and stared down at the giant face behind the gate.

"So...are you going to help me or not?"

* * *

Boruto was down on his knees, he saw his own father about to be chopped to pieces and all he could do was watch it happen and let himself disappear forever, to never exist at all.

'Dad...no...please, not again...I can't fail you again...'

* * *

 _"First match of the semi-finals! BEGIN!"_

 _It was the day of the Chūnin Exams, and Boruto had performed exemplary, as was expected. After defeating opponents from several of the other hidden villages. he had now made it all the way to eh semi-finals, and who should end up being his opponent but his old friend and gaming buddy Shikadai._

 _'Better think sharp, or else pineapple head might catch onto my strategy.'_

 _As the two boys traded blows, the Uzumaki family looked down upon them from the stands._

 _"You can do it big brother!" Himawari called out in enthusiasm, her mother sitting beside her._

 _Naruto was watching too, as his adviser and friend Shikamaru came up behind him. "...He's not gonna lose this."_

 _"Heh." Naruto chuckled._

 _Shikadai sent out his Shadow Possession Jutsu to capture Bolt's rapidly dodging and moving form, as well as the four shadow clones he had managed to make during the fight. His movements were quick, but they were predictable. And after dodging a well timed strike, Bolt thought he had him right where he wanted him._

 _"GOTCHA!"_

 _Bolt tried landing a palm strike right into Shikadai's face, but found himself unable to move. He and his clones had fallen right into his opponent's trap, a Shadow Possession that spread out several feet to entrap all five of himself as one time._

 _Shikadai smirked as the shadow clones each puffed out of existence one after another. "Now then, it'd be great if you could just be a good sport about this and give up."_

 _Shikamaru laughed again. "Hehehe. Looks like this match is over." Naruto could only chuckle nervously._

 _But Boruto would not be denied his victory. With all his strength, he flicked his wrist and a few very small scrolls fell out of his sleeve. No one in the audience seemed to notice...except for his father._

 _Shikadai was stunned when, even in spite of his justu still being in effect, his opponent was still able to produce more than twenty shadow clones that had him surrounded on all sides._

 _"No way...what the...?" Seeing no other option, Shikadai lazily threw down his kunai and raised his hands in the air. "Damn...It seems like way too much trouble to even try to count them all...I give up."_

 _Lee pointed to the victor. "Boruto Uzumaki, you advance to the finals!"_

 _"YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"_

 _But Bolt's excitement was short lived as the Seventh Hokage leaped down from his place in the stands and landed right in the middle of the ring. Bolt ran up to his father. "Dad! Did you see?!" He stuck his fist out. "The finals are next!"_

 _The boy smiled...but the father did not smile back. Instead, he merely grabbed his wrist and pulled down his sleeve, revealing a mechanical device underneath. It was a kote, an experimental ninja tool that Kensuke and his team had been developing, much to the Hokage's disapproval. And it was a clear and undeniable violation of the rules._

 _"Boruto, what's going on?"_

 _"..."_

 _"Boruto Uzumaki!" Lee shouted upon signal from Naruto. "For violating the regulations and using prohibited ninja technology, has been disqualified!"_

 _As the entire crowd were gasping in shock, the other kages were equally disappointed._

 _"Therefore," Lee continued, "The winner has been changed to Konoha village's Shikadai Nara."_

 _"Geez, what a drag..."_

 _Naruto reached out then...and took the headband off of his own son's head. "You are not qualified to be a ninja."_

 _The boy hung his head in shame. Even now, at his moment of victory, his father still puts the village ahead of him! Who's fault was it that he had to resort to this in the first place?!_

 _"What's wrong with big brother?" Himawari asked a sad Hinata._

 _Naruto tried to escort his son out of the ring. "Let's go, the exam is still underway. I'll be giving you a talking to later..."_

 _That was when any patience Boruto had was erased. He smacked the hand away in anger. "Later?! You'll talk to me later?! Do you actually have that kind of time, dad?! If you had talked to me and taught me in the first place, then things would have never come to this!"_

 _"...Boruto..."_

 _"That's too bad, isn't it, Lord Seventh?"_

 _Both Uzumaki's turned their heads at the sound of a familiar voice. A man with a short crop of brown hair and brown eyes behind a pair of glasses had entered the ring. He was dressed in a white scientist suit without a forehead protector. Behind him was a similarly dressed man carrying a video camera._

 _"Boruto has been disqualified. We would have preferred to have announced this along with his victory."_

 _"You guys..." Botuto stuttered._

 _His face now being broadcast on the Jumbotron, the science ninja addressed the rest of the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen gathered here today! You have all seen with your very own eyes, Boruto's amazing display!"_

 _"What's this all about?" Durai questioned._

 _"What the heck Katasuke?!" Naruto protested._

 _Katasuke ignored his Hokage and continued speaking. "He may have been disqualified and due to breaking regulations, but the power of our ninja technology that we displayed was the real deal! I would like to take this chance to—"_

 _ **CRASH!**_

 _Everyone turned at the sudden and unexpected explosion that occurred right in the middle of the ring. As the dust cleared, there stood a tall, burly man with big hands, pale skin with short spiky blue-greyish hair, a full beard, and a stubbed horn above his left eye. He wore a pale blue shirt with back cuffs and a high collar over which he wore another darker appendage with a grey sash wrapped around his waist. He also wore grey pants and black, flat shoes on his feet which were upturned at the toes._

 _"Boruto! Stay behind me!" Naruto demanded._

 _Mumblings of things like "Something had stepped into the ring," and "Hey, what the hell is going on here?!" filled the stands at the arrival of the mysterious intruder._

 _Katasuke was not at all pleased with the interruption of his big moment and instinctively ran towards the interloper. "Just what do you think you're doing?! This place is—"_

 _"DON'T! STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"_

 _The mysterious man plunged his giant hands into the ground and sent out a shockwave that knocked Katasuke clear out of the ring, It would have knocked Boruto out as well, had his father not been quick enough to catch him._

 _...The rest of it was all a blur to Boruto. Everything was happening so fast. His mother, his sister, his Aunt Sakura, all of them were either running for their safety or were doing their part to hold off the enemy or to save the villagers. It was total chaos unlike anything he'd ever seen..._

 _All he could remember was his dad telling him to leave and get to safety...just as someone else appeared behind him. This man had pale skin and pale-blue hair as well that was kept in a long ponytail. His hair was parted down the middle in a zig-zag pattern, and his head was adorned with a pair of flat, curved horns that reminded Boruto of rabbit ears. He was dressed in a white kariginu hunting robe, baggy pants, a pair oftengu-geta, and a single black glove on his left hand, with a hole cut into the palm. He also wore a transparent veil over his head._

 _The boy knew nothing of who this stranger was, but he did know just by looking at him that he was far more dangerous than the other one was..._

 _"DAD!"_

 _The stranger kicked Naruto into the wall with relative ease. Bolt found the courage to stand up and pull out his kote._

 _"FIRE RELEASE: BULLET BLAZE!"_

 _The stranger paid little mind to the attack, as the entire blaze was absorbed directly into his hand, to the boy's horror. He tried it again, but the same result occurred. The stranger walked towards him with amused emotion plastered on his lips..._

 _...Until Naruto came back with a mighty punch to come to his rescue. From there, Boruto's memory got even more fuzzy. All he could remember was that somehow he found himself in the crumbling arena with his father, Sarada, and his Uncle Saskue all together. He also saw the stranger eating some kind of red...whatever it was, and creating a enormous ball of chakra that was going to kill all of them. Bolt braced for the worst as he made a couple of shadow clones to help protect Sarada..._

 _...And then he saw it. His dad has stopped the attack. How? He had transformed. Into some form that he had never seen before. He was glowing with some kind of golden fire, and there were these intricate black markings all over his body. He looked...he looked like a god of some kind, a being made of pure chakra._

 _'Dad...You had that kind of power...?'_

 _More explosions...more chaos...his dad exchanging words with Sarada's dad...And then he heard his father powering up._

 _"Let's do this Kurama! You'd better not have gotten rusty on me! AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

 _Never before had he heard his father let out such a gigantic, blood curdling scream as he did in that moment. The enemy had created yet another gigantic ball of chakra, but this time, his father held it back by shooting out...no, that couldn't have been right. It looked like...a giant fox made of golden flames, just like Naruto himself looked now._

 _This Kurama thing, whatever it was, this must have been what came out and caught the chakra ball. But his Uncle Sasuke had told him, rather than blowing it away, an taking out all the surrounding lands with it, he instead chose to use his own body as a shield and absorb all the damage himself...Just a like a true Hokage._

 _...And that was where Boruto's memory ended. The world turned white. All he could see in the explosion of chakra was his father, standing there with his back to him, taking all of the power in. And as he watched, words that his Uncle Sasuke had told him earlier echoed through his mind:_

'He was just your typical flunky dropout...Not good at anything, and terrible at everything...But he overcame all of his shortcomings with his own strength...and became Hokage. It's not who Naruto is now that you should really know...'

 _Naruto turned his head towards his son...and smiled as the while light engulfed him._

'...But everything Naruto has been up until now.'

 _ **"DAAAAAAAD!"**_

* * *

...

Boruto saw his father disappear once...He was **not** going to let it happen again.

"This is the end for you Nine-Tails."

Young Naruto stared in horror at the tiger-man than loomed over him. He could feel death itself staring him in the face.

"RASENGAN!"

The old man turn back to the disappearing boy a split second too late. He was hit with the infamous jutsu of the Fourth Hokage. It was not a terribly powerful one, what with the boy fading out of existence, but it was enough to stop the tiger-man's murderous assault and buy his virtually overwhelmed target another few moments.

"Run!"

Naruto still had no idea what was going on, but he was smart enough to take the hint and use his opening to get out of there, running deeper into the forest, the Scroll of Seals still on his person.

"AGH!" Old Mizuki growled at Boruto. "You little brat! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Hell yeah!" Bolt fired back. "I just stop a maniac from killing my dad!"

Mizuki popped his claws back out for another strike. "Mark my words it won't happen again."

Bolt stood his ground, but then he felt yet another sharp flutter run through his body. It seemed that, even now, the past still wasn't quite on the right course yet.

Seeing his opening, Mizuki didn't hesitate. He roared, and thrust his claws straight into the young blonde's chest...

...

...Or at least he would have, had he not been grabbed by an arm glowing with a bubbling shroud of orange chakra.

"Don't be so sure about that old man."

Using the power boost he borrowed from Kurama, Shinachiku launch the strongest punch he could muster into the tiger-man's stomach, forcing the villain back.

Old Mizuki growled as the two sons of his most hated enemy, two boys from different worlds, stood before and, even with their lives moments away from disappearing forever, were prepared to use all they had left to defeat him...

* * *

Naruto was running through the trees, desperate to get away. He had to escape for all of this...this madness.

"Naruto!" The boy turned his head at the voice, and he found Iruka there calling for him. "Hurry, give me the scroll! Mizuki is after you!"

But no sooner had his teacher finished speaking than the boy flipped around and kicked him right in the stomach, causing the adult to fall to the forest floor. Naruto did the same, landing with a thud, but he was feeling weak, fatigues, so he then fell backwards, his back pressed against a tree.

Iruka got his bearings and started standing up. "Why Naruto?"

And with that, Iruka was engulfed in a puff of smoke, revealing that it wasn't actually Iruka at all...it was the young Mizuki.

"How did you know I wasn't Iruka?"

Naruto smiled mischievously before turning into smoke himself, leaving behind a familiar face in his place. "Because I'm Iruka."

The traitor was dumbstruck. "What?! How can this be?! You're supposed to be dead!"

Iruka, still back against the tree, smiled at his former friend's confusion as he recounted the circumstances of his survival... _  
_

* * *

 _"Naruto isn't the type of person to have a change of heart. And I think he's planning to use the scroll to get revenge. You saw those eyes earlier, the eyes of a real demon."_

 _Iruka would hear none of it. He reached behind him and forcefully pulled the giant shuriken out of his back. "GAH!" He glared. "Naruto...isn't like that..."_

 _Mizuki paused, glaring at the former comrade before him, before smiling evilly. "Maybe you're more right than I want to admit...Still, this is where we have to say goodbye old friend."_

 _With that, Mizuki whipped out a kunai and plunged the blade directly into the chest!_

 _"GAH!"_

 _Blood was splattered all over the forest floor. Iruka had stopped moving. He was cold. So cold..._

 _Smirking, Mizuki waved at the now former Leaf ninja and leaped into the woods. 'Now that that problem's taken care of, its time to track down the Nine-Tails.'_

 _Iruka could feel his life fading away. He was gong to die here. He was going to be reunited with his parents again...But none of that was what was on his mind in his final moments. No, all he could think about was the sad, scarred little boy whom he'd failed._

 _'Naruto...I'm sorry.'_

 _A line of tears falling from his eye, he could feel his lids closing, his life leaving him...And then he saw what looked to be a shadowy figure come into his view, kneeling down in front of him..._

 _"Iruka!"_

 _The stranger approached Iruka with a small squad of two medical ninja. Both of whom quickly got to work healing the Chūnin. By the time they were finished, they had also bandaged him up to prevent any further blood loss._

 _Iruka regained consciousness as the medical ninja backed away finishing their work. As his vision came back, he realized who his mysterious savior truly was._

 _"K-Kakashi?"_

 _The Jōnin eye-smiled. "That was a close one. Good to see you made it."_

 _"How did you know I was here?"_

 _"Lord Third Hokage informed me. We both agreed you would need my help to get through the night."_

 _"G-Gomen—WAIT! Naruto?! I need to get to Naruto!"_

 _"No!" Kakashi insisted. "You're going back to village for further treatment. We kept you from dying but that shuriken wound in your back still looks pretty bad._ I'm _going after the boy."_

 _"Kakashi, you don't understand. Mizuki duped Naruto into stealing the scroll for him. And he's not alone. There's this old man—"_

 _"I know."_

 _Y-You do?"_

 _"Yes...In fact, I probably know a lot more about what's going on than you do."_

 _"I don't understand."_

 _The Copy Ninja paused. "I barely understand it myself. But seriously, I need to go after Mizuki to recover the scroll. And don't worry about the boy, he's in...very special hands."_

 _Iruka pause to take it all in, but then shook his head in rejection. "No! I have to go after Mizuki alone. I need to keep him from finding Naruto."_

 _"What?! Why?!"_

 _"Because...Because I owe it to Naruto."_

 _"I'm under orders from Lord Hokage..." The son of the White Fang paused. "...But there are some things a man needs to do alone I suppose."_

 _Iruka smiled. "Arigato Kakashi."_

 _The elite ninja reached into his ninja pouch and pulled out a small black ball. "Here, at least take a food pill to replenish your chakra."_

 _Iruka took the pill and quick felt much better. He was about to start running through the forest again, but then he came up with a better plan._

 _"TRANSFORM!"_

 _In a puff of smoke, he had transformed into Naruto himself, knowing that Mizuki would likely think to disguise himself as Iruka to lure the real Naruto into a trap. But this way, hopefully, he could beat him at his own game first._

 _"Good luck to you," Kakashi said._

 _Iruka gave a thumbs up, with a very Naruto-like grin to go along with it. But before he took off, he turned back one more time. "You know, Naruto's really not what everyone says he is. He's not the Nine-Tailed Fox, he's something very special."_

 _'You have no idea..."_

 _"What was that?"_

 _"Umm, nothing! Go on! Naruto needs you!"_

 _With that, Iruka took off into the treetops to track down his enemy as Kakashi stood there watching him leave...  
_

* * *

Mizuki smirked. "I see. Hehehe. You even transformed into what killed your parents to protect him."

"I won't had the scroll over to someone like you. You idiot! Naruto and I are the same!"

As the two shinobi argued, they did not notice that hiding behind a tree near their position, the real Naruto was listening to and looking upon everything they were saying, clutching the scroll close to his body as he did so.

The boy had done as one of those kids had told him, he ran, ran far away from the crazy old tiger man. He ended up here, right where Mizuki and Iruka were, and now he had no idea what he was supposed to do. So much craziness had happened to him all in one night. He was so confused, so lost...

"If you use the skills in that scroll you can do whatever you want!" Mizuki argued. There's no way that demon fox wouldn't try to use the power of the scroll, unlike what you're assuming."

"Yeah..."

Naruto was shocked. It was all true. Even after everything, Iruka would say such a thing! 'I knew it...see...Even Iruka-sensei deep down...doesn't acknowledge me.'

"The demon fox would do that..."

Naruto had hung his head, but raised it back up again at the sound of Iruka's voice.

"But Naruto is different. He is...I've acknowledged him as one of my excellent students. He may not be the hardest worker, and he is clumsy and no one accepts him. He already knows what it feels like to feel pain inside your heart. He isn't the Nine-Tailed Fox..."

Naruto hung on Iruka's words...

"He is a member of the Hidden Leaf Village."

...And he wept.

"He's Naruto Uzumaki!"

Mizuki listened Iruka speech and gritted his teeth. "Well, whatever..."

"ARG!" Iruka, still in pain from the shuriken wound he took for the boy earlier, bled against the tree as Mizuki brought back out his giant shuriken that had wounded him in the first place.

"Iruka," he said, " I thought I had taken care of you, but now I'll make sure to finish the job. NOW HURRY UP AND DIE!"

With the ferocity of a madman, the young Mizuki spun his weapon in his hand to cut his former friend to ribbons. Iruka just smiled.

'So this is it? I guess Kakashi was right. Oh well, at least this way Naruto can escape...'

...

And then, Mizuki went flying across the ground, his weapon flying off into the forest, cutting the branch of a tree off in the process.

Iruka was stunned at who had just come to his rescue. 'Naruto!"

Mizuki was furious. **"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE DONE THAT!"**

The boy stood there, scowling, holding the scroll upright. "If you ever lay a hand on my sensei... **I'LL KILL YOU!** "

"You idiot! Why did you come out?! Run away!"

Neither Naruto nor Mizuki acknowledge Iruka's words, the two merely stared each other down.

"HAHAHA! I'LL KILL SOMEONE LIKE YOU IN ONE SHOT!"

Naruto continued glaring, making a simple hand sign where he made a cross with right and left index and middle fingers. "Try it trash! I'll return the pain a thousand times over!"

 **"THEN DO IT! NINE-TAILED FOX!"**

And that was when Iruka's eyes widened in shock.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

 _You got the touch, you got the power_ _  
_ _Yeah!_

Several puffs of smoke appeared. And out of them, a army of Naruto's! At least a hundred, or a couple hundred! They were on the ground, in the trees, everywhere. And they all had Mizuki completely surrounded.

"Wha...?! What's going on?!"

"What's wrong?" one clone said.

"Weren't you going to kill me with one shot?" another said.

Iruka could do nothing but keep staring at the boy's incredible achievement. 'Naruto...You have...'

"Well then..." another clone began.

"...I'll start, okay," another clone finished, cracking his knuckles while doing so.

Mizuki sweated in horror. It was like a nightmare. He was so overwhelmed that he was powerless as the literal one man army descended upon him...

 _After all is said and done_ _  
_ _You've never walked, you've never run_ _  
_ _You're a winner_ _  
_ _You got the moves, you know the streets_ _  
_ _Break the rules, take the heat_ _  
_ _You're nobody's fool_

 _You're at your best when the goin' gets rough_ _  
_ _You've been put to the test but it's never enough_

 _You got the touch, you got the power_ _  
_ _When all hell's breakin' loose_ _  
_ _You'll be riding the eye of the storm_ _  
_ _You got the heart, you got the motion_ _  
_ _You know that when things get too tough_ _  
_ _You got the touch_

* * *

...

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Both Shinachiku and Boruto each created about twenty shadow clones to topple over the elder Mizuki, Shinachiku's being extra powerful thanks to a boost from Kurama's chakra. Their combined melee attacks were quite overwhelming, even for an enhanced ninja like Old Man Mizuki.

 **"ROAR!"**

With his enhanced strength, pushed the boys back with duel punches. They felt like getting hit by a metal beam, but they both were able to recover, particularly Shina.

"Enough of this!"

Mizuki cast a genjutsu, turning the weather around himself into a hazy illusion.

"He's gone!" Bolt shouted.

"Stay alert!" Shina commanded. "He's still here somewhere."

Silence at first, and then... "There!"

A simple puppet wielding a sword flew through the haze, but Shina created a chakra arm that caught the wooden nuisance and smashed it.

"Gotcha!"

Like a fish stalking it's prey underwater, Mizuki leaped from underground to grab Shina's legs.

"LIGHTNING RELEASE: PURPLE ELECTRICITY!"

A stream of purple lightning shot from Bolt's hand and electrocuted Mizuki.

"AAAGGHH!"

The old man fell to his knees, the shock of the technique even being a match for his enhanced form.

"WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: FLAMING TWISTER!"

Shinachiku seized this opportunity to put into action a new jutsu he'd been working on since the defeat of Uragi a year ago. Using both his wind and fire chakra, he created a miniature twister engulfed in flames that swirled around Mizuki, burning him alive.

"AAAGGHH!"

Both of those attacks together, coming from two prodigy children of the Uzumaki clan, one of whom was enhanced by the Nine-Tails were leaving him a burned mess. Mizuki could feel his curse mark starting to weaken. He needed to finish this now.

 **"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT!"**

Gathering his chakra, he prepared himself for his ultimate technique...

 _You never bend, you never break_ _  
_ _You seem to know just what it takes_ _  
_ _You're a fighter_ _  
_ _It's in the blood, it's in the will_ _  
_ _It's in the mighty hands of steel_ _  
_ _When you're standin' your ground_

 _And you never get hit when your back's to the wall_ _  
_ _Gonna fight to the end and you're takin' it all_

 _You got the touch, you got the power_ _  
_ _When all hell's breakin' loose_ _  
_ _You'll be riding the eye of the storm_ _  
_ _You got the heart, you got the motion_ _  
_ _You know that when things get too tough_ _  
_ _You got the touch_

"RASENGAN!"

"RASENGAN!"

Mizuki never got the chance to use his technique. Shinachiku and Boruto each thrust their father's signature jutsu into his heavily scorched chest at the same time. In his weakened state, this was finally too much.

"This...This cannot...be... It...It cannot end like this..."

One last bit of strength left, even as he body was weakening, emaciating even. Stretching his arm out, he intended to release all the power left in his curse mark upon his enemies.

Shinachiku turned to his partner. "Hold him."

Nodding, Boruto made a familiar hand sign. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Several clones of Boruto appeared to hold the tiger man in place. Meanwhile, Shina made a couple clones of his own, in order to help him prepare his signature technique.

 _You're fightin' fire with fire_ _  
_ _You know you got the touch_

 **"DIE!"**

Releasing his chakra in an unfocused blast, the beam might actually have done Shina in...had Bolt's clones to take the blast themselves.

"NO!"

"WIND AND FIRE RELASE: RASENGAN!"

Shinachiku thrust his flaming version of his father's technique into Mizuki's chest, burning him intensely while scorching his fur, weakening his damaged form.

 _You're at your best when the road gets rough_ _  
_ _You've been put to the test, but it's never enough_

 _You got the touch, you got the power_ _  
_ _Yeah!_ _  
_ _You got the touch, you got the power_ _  
_ _Touch!_

When the inferno passed, Mizuki had nothing left. His enhanced form faded and he returned to normal again, now too damaged to put up any further defense...He had failed. All that time, all that effort, all that plotting his ultimate revenge...All of it ruined by a couple of meddling brats!

"It...It can't end this way...V-Vengeance..."

 **"AHHHHHHHHH!"**

Shinachiku heard the scream go off deep into the forest, recognizing the voice as belonging to the younger Mizuki. Having read his father's book so many times, he smiled, knowing exactly what must have happened...Not that the echoing of many, many punching noises wasn't a giveaway.

"No," he said to the defeated old man. " _Justice_."

"In speaking of justice," Boruto interrupted, "I think its about time we took you back to the future and threw your ass in jail old man."

But then, the old man laughed. "Hehehehehe...Hehehehehehe...HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What's so damn funny?!" Bolt shouted.

"You brats think...that I would...let myself...be defeated by the likes of you...or your father...No...If I have to go...I go with my pride."

The old man opened his mouth, and Shina's eyes widened in horror at what he saw on his tongue.

 **"NO!"**

 _CHOMP!_

It was already too late. He'd bit down on the cyanide pill. Foam oozed out of his mouth as the old man fell over.

And just like that, Mizuki, former shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village, missing-nin, and time traveling avenger, was dead, on the very same night that he had come back to change, defeated by the son's of the very boy he sent the rest of his life plotting to destroy...

"Well, it's over," Boruto said.

"Yes..." Shinachiku checked his hand as Kurama's chakra left him. It was solid, he looked himself over, and his whole body was as it should be, totally material and still living.

Boruto realized what he was doing and quickly checked himself also. "Hey! This means we won right?! We're not disappearing anymore! That's means dad's okay and Konoha's okay! Right?"

Shinachiku paused before looking off into the forest. "There's only one way to know for sure."

* * *

Iruka was smiling in pride. He was amazed at what he'd just seen the boy before him accomplish.

'Hehehe. He really did divide into more than a thousand. Each was a real body and not an illusion...Maybe he really will surpass all the previous Hokage...'

The younger Mizuki, now the only one left, was left a beaten, bettered mess on the forest floor. He had literally been beaten into unconsciousness. Naruto, the _real_ Naruto, scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Hehe. Sorry. I went a little too far."

Iruka was smiling. The boy really had done well...But he did notice something, he seemed to be a extra tired now, like a huge chunk of his energy had been drained from him... 'Oh well, I suppose making that many clones would tire anyone out, especially at his age.'

"Naruto," Iruka said, "come over here. There's something I want to give you..."

* * *

"Did anyone find him?!"

"No!"

"Damn it! This is bad!"

"He could be far away by now!"

A platoon of Leaf ninja were still panicking as they'd failed to locate Naruto or the scroll. But that was put to rest quickly with the appearance of their wise leader.

"There's nothing to worry about."

"L-Lord Hokage?" one of the ninja reacted in surprise.

Holding his smoking pipe in his hand, the old man smiled. "He'll be back soon."

Away from the crowd, a certain elite ninja with silver hair found himself smirking beneath his mask. 'Naruto...interesting, with the right training and the right teammates, that boy might make his father proud yet...'

* * *

It had been a long night, one filled with conflict, revelations, and a few bizarre fights here and there. But as dawn finally rose on the new day, Naruto found himself getting annoyed.

"Now sensei?" the boy asked impatiently.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Opening his eyes at last, he first had to squint at eh bright rays of the sun, but as his vision came into focus, he could see the warm, smiling face of his sensei there in front of him...But wait, something seemed different...His headband was taken off!

"Congratulations Naruto, you graduate."

Naruto was in shock. There was no way he was serious. This had to be a dream...But, then what was this weird thing he felt on his forehead? It didn't feel like his goggles. No...no it felt like...like cloth.

Naruto knew what it was. Iruka had just given him his headband.

"Let's celebrate! I'll buy you a cup of ramen!"

And in that moment, any act of arrogance, or toughness, or any kind of a mask was cast aside. All that remained was a little boy, one that was happier than he'd ever been in his life.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka did nothing to resist or chastise as Naruto embraced him. Funny, he was going to lecture him that the hard part of being a shinobi had just begun...But he figured he'd save that for the ramen place...

Watching from behind some bushes, Shinachiku and Boruto took in the scene before. The elder was smiling in satisfaction, the younger was, well, surprised would be the best word to describe it.

'Dad...' Bolt said allowed in a soft voice. 'Was this really you?'

Shina noticed the look on his counterpart's face. "You alright?"

"Huh? Y-Yeah, I'm okay. I just well...I'm not used to...seeing him like this. So..."

Shina smirked. "Young?"

"...I guess. So, this means everything's okay then?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"So, does that mean we can go home now?"

"Yes, I think that's a good idea."

"You sure there are no loose strings we need to worry about?"

Shiina thought about it. "Kakashi knows to keep this a secret, and we did a pretty good job keeping as low a profile as we could...I don't think we messed things up too bad, all things considered."

"What about Mizuki?"

"The young one will be locked away in prison where he belongs, and it he tries to tell anyone what happened they probably won't believe him in there. May even put in int he nuthouse if he starts talking about the future."

"And the old Mizuki?"

"Best we bring the body with us so we can bury him in the present. No telling what leaving his corpse here could do." The elder blonde suddenly gasped. "Oh crap!"

"What?"

"I almost forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

"The Time Gem!"

Bolt stared at him in confusion.

"The chakra gem that Mizuki used to travel back in time in the first place.

...Still confusion.

Shina sighed in annoyance. "It's a shiny orange jewel that lets you control time. We need to get it off of Mizuki's body before—"

"HEY!"

Time stopped. Everything stopped. Shinachiku could feel a line of sweat running down his neck at the sound of that all-too familiar voice.

"Hey! You guys! Come over here!"

Seeing no way out of this now, Shina turned to face Naruto as the boy in orange eagerly, and naively, ran up to them both.

"Hey! I was hoping I'd find you guys again!"

"Uhh...yeah, hey there..." Shina waved his hand sheepishly.

"Y-Yeah, hi." Bolt was getting pretty nervous himself.

"I don't think we've met formally. I'm Naruto. What's your name."

The boy held out his hand, asking for a handshake. Not to be rude, Shina and Bolt nervously did so.

"Shinachiku."

"Boruto."

Naruto was so happy to have finally graduated that he couldn't resist sharing his celebration with his new friends. "Listen, I know I might have been a bit of jerk to you guys earlier, but thanks for showing up and saving my life. Say, whatever happened to that weird tiger guy anyway?"

The boys traded nervous glances at one another before Shina lied for them both. "Umm...I think he got away. But don't worry. I'm pretty sure he's not coming back."

"Oh...Well anyway, I told Iruka-sensei about what you did for me, and since your both here, why don't you come with us to Ichiraku's for some ramen. Sensei's treat!"

Now Bolt tried to protest. "Oh, I don't know. We really need to get going—"

"Oh come on! It'll be fun!"

Before they knew it, Naruto was pulling them both by their hands and dragging them over to where Iruka was waiting. All the while, the boys were each sharing the same thought.

'Crap! Now what do we do?!'

* * *

Uh-oh! Figures, now that Mizuki has been dealt with, the boys just need to recover the time gem, hope back into their time machine, and go home...But nope! Young, oblivious Naruto has to step in and make friends. So now, how long can the boys humor their dad until they need to get away? And how much longer can they stay in the past without doing something that could screw up the future?

You likely noticed that there were a lot of lengthy flashbacks in this chapter. This was done for a few reasons. First, because I wanted to get into some of the character's minds to add emotional weight to their situation. Second, to provide the reveal of who saved Iruka's life, and to pay off having Kakashi learn the truth in the last chapter. And third...come on, what would Naruto be without a lot of flashback scenes!

As for the flashbacks themselves, Shinachiku's was lifted directly from the climactic chapter of my original fanfic, "Shnachiku's First Adventure," to which this story is a direct sequel. I apologize if it spoiled it for any of you, but for those who have read that story first, I hope it enhanced to experience for you.

In speaking of which, in case you didn't know, this idea of Shinachiku (and Hanami) having a direct link to Kurama so they can borrow some of the Nine-Tails chakra from Naruto was established in SFA. But here, I thought it would be a surprise pay off to see that brought back in the past, technically before Kurama would have made that connection. It may not make perfect sense, but hey, that's time paradox for you. Also, it was fun to see Shinachiku get to negotiate with Kurama in the early days, before even Naruto got to meet him face to face for the first time.

As for Boruto's flashback, that was lifted straight from the Boruto movie, but I was specifically going with the Mangareader translation of the manga version of that scene during the Chūnin Exams. It was meant to give some context to how Bolt sees his father, and also to help clarify where we are plucking him out of his own story via this alternate universe and time travel narrative.

As far as references go, there was only one I ended of using. Before Mizuki kills himself and weakly calls out for vengeance, and Shinachiku corrects him by saying, "No... _justice_ ", that was inspired by a famous episode of "Batman: The Animated Series." In the classic episode "Heart of Ice," Batman shares a similar exchange with Mr. Freeze after defeating him with the thermos full of chicken soup.

I decided to go back in to reuse a song from one of my previous stories. "The Touch" by Stan Bush was previously used for the climax of "Shinachiku's First Adventure" (the same scene I pulled Shina's flashback from), and I decided that it was appropriate to use it here as sort of a recurring anthem both for Shinachiku and Boruto, and also for Naruto as well. Its sort of like how it was used both as a theme song for Optimus Prime and then later again for Rodimus Prime in "The Transformers: The Movie."

Actually, I originally had planned to include one more song at the end, and it was from that second song that I got the title for this chapter from. But since this one ran on for so long, I decided to hold off on it and keep it going for a less abrupt and more flowing wrap up of this story line in the past. Despite not using the song, I kept the title as it was because, one, I couldn't come up with anything better, two, it was essentially what the chapter was all about, and three, it fit so well with this chapter coincidentally coming out of Father's Day.

I think that's all I have to say for this one. Thank you all so much again for reading, and I hope to see you back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	17. Chapter 17--Time to Go

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

This one is a very interesting chapter because it is the closing up and tying up the loose ends of this story arc of traveling to the past. After this, we are going to be going in a different direction. You will see what I mean at the end.

I also want to say that this will be a slower chapter with more talking and awkward moments, not an action chapter like we had last time. But I think you will enjoy it.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 17: Time to Go**

Shinachiku and Boruto were sitting at the bar at Ramen Ichiraku, both trying to keep their heads low. It was already bad enough that the two of them were stuck here in the first place. The least they could do was to make sure that nobody else recognized them.

"Hey there kid," Old Man Teuchi said as he came out of the back. "You look different today. New haircut?"

Naruto was smiling ear to ear. "You wish old man! Look!"

The blonde nudged his new forehead protector with his thumb smugly. Now the old man got what it was. "Ha! Well look at you. So you finally graduated, eh kid?"

"Yup!"

"I suppose even the most helpless of cases had to get lucky sometime."

Naruto went ballistic. "HA! Come on old man!"

Teuchi just waved it off. "Relax kid, I was only teasing." He then noticed his other guest sitting next to the boy. "Oh, I see you're here too, eh Iruka?"

"Well, lets just say that Naruto and I had an... _interesting_ night last night."

The old man raised an eyebrow in confusion before shaking it off and moving on. "So what will it be?"

Iruka was the one to order. "Four bowls please."

"Four? You two must be hungry today."

"No, no, the other two bowls are for our friends here."

Teuchi looked over to the two boys sitting the right that had been keeping their heads down not saying a word the entire time. "Oh sorry boys, I didn't notice you there."

'Crap!' Shina cursed inside his head. 'Well, no sense staying quiet now.' Raising his head he answered with a simple "Good morning."

Bolt, coming to the same conclusion, followed his counterpart's example and said "Yo."

The old man was taken aback when he saw the two boys faces. "Hey Naruto, these two kind of look like you. They your cousins or something?"

Shina felt a cold sweat run down his neck. 'Oh _shit_!"

"Nah!" Nauto answered mater of factly. "There just two kids from the Academy that helped me out last night. We invited them here to say thank you."

"Hmm..." The old man shrugged his shoulders and decided to get down to business. "So what will it be?"

Naruto was quick to order first. "One miso-flavored ramen with extra pork on top!"

'I might have known,' the old man thought.

"I'll have the shio with bean sprouts," Iruka said.

Teuchi turned to the boys. "What about you two?"

"Umm..." Shina thought about what to say, before he simple said. "I just have what he's having," pointing to Naruto as he said it.

"Same," Bolt said.

Nodding, the old man went back in the back to start preparing their food. This left the four of them alone at the bar.

"So boys," Iruka said. "I appreciate what you did for Naruto last night. But even so, it was very dangerous of you both to put your lives on the line like that. Graduates or not, you both are still Genin, and without training from a Jōnin instructor you both could have gotten yourselves killed."

The boys looked down and they nodded, but playing along with their act for now. "Gomen, gomen."

"Aw! Iruka-sensei! Cut them some slack! That weird old tiger guy might have killed me last night if not for them."

"...I suppose so. Still, whoever your parents are, I hope they raised you better than to go rushing off into situations like that without the proper training."

There was an awkward pause as they both glanced their eyes in the orange-clad blonde's direction before grinning nervously.

'This is getting out of hand.' Shina complained in his mind. 'The longer we're stuck here, the worse things could get for us!'

Bolt was having thoughts of his own. 'Crap! I just want to get through lunch so we can get the hell out of here!' He sighed. 'Well, at least things can't get any worse...'

* * *

In the forest outside of Konoha, a couple of squirrels were rummaging the trees for their latest meal. But as one of the little woodland creatures scoured the branches for it's meal, it's sharp eyes caught sight of something on the grassy floor. Climbing down from the branches, the squirrel inspected what the mysterious object was.

It was a small, shiny object, like a capsule. There was a large, round, flat device on the top of said capsule. The squirrel understood naught what this thing was, so it did as it's animal instincts urged it to do. The critter scurried over to the shiny capsule and scratched at it with its tine claws, and tried to bite at it with it's teeth.

But as it did this, the circular device on the top of the capsule pressed inward, Seconds later, the squirrel panicked as a large puff of smoke appeared and where the capsule once stood was now bizarre machine...

...A machine that the squirrel was now climbing inside of in search of food, nibbling on the wires and the circuitry as it did so...

* * *

"Ah!" Naruto rubbed his now full stomach and licked his lips in satisfaction. "Ichiraku never lets me down!"

"I'm glad your stomach's full Naruto," Iruka said. "But you'd better go home and get some rest first, because in just a couple hours you need to go get your photo taken for your ninja registration."

"Huh? Get my photo taken?" Naruto paused for a moment before that mischievous grin appeared on his face again.

Iruka's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh no! Don't you even think about it!"

But it was too late, the boy was already running back home, laughing all the way down the street.

Sighing, Iruka turned to the other two boys in his presence. "Well, I guess you two had better start heading home also."

"Thank you for the meal, Iruka-sensei!" Both of them said in politeness.

As Iruka turned to leave, Boruto whispered into Shina's ear. "Okay, now lets get out of here!"

"Agreed!" Feeling around in his pocket, Shinachiku saw it fit to let his grievances be heard. "I swear, the sooner we get back home and I see my family and the village again, the sooner we can get focused on getting you back home where you—AGH!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's gone..."

"Huh?"

"It's gone!"

"What's gone?"

"The time machine!"

"WHAT?! Where did it go?!"

"I don't know! It must have fallen out of my pocket during our fight with old Mizuki."

"Well what the hell are we supposed to do now?!"

"We have no choice! We need to go back into the woods and search for that capsule!"

"That could take all day and night! Jeez! How could you have been so stupid?!"

"I'm sorry alright! Look, we just need to find it and get out of her before we get into any more tro—"

"Morning boys."

That voice stopped their argument where it stood. It was one of the last people in the world that either of them wanted to see.

"H-Hi Kakashi-sensei," Bolt said nervously.

"Yo." Kakashi responded with a raised hand a one of his signature eye miles. "What are you two doing out and about this fine day?"

"Umm..." Shina worked quick to come up with a convincing lie. "We're just...finishing getting some breakfast, we'll be heading back home now."

"Not so fast!" The serious force of the elite Jōnin's words actually caught both of the boys off guard. "I've received word from the Third Hokage himself. He wishes to see you both in his office."

The boys shared a quick glance to one another before Bolt merely asked, "Now?"

"Now."

"With all due respect Kakashi-sensei," Shina said, "I really think our parents are expecting us back home for something _very_ important. I'm sure if you inform Lord Hokage, he'll understand—"

"You can drop the act boys. He knows."

...

"K-Knows what?" Bolt asked nervously.

"Who you really are, _and_ where you come from."

"You told the old man?!"

Shina shook his head in defeat. "No, he didn't. More likely the Third Hokage was watching us through his magic ball, just like he would have been watching what happened with Mizuki last night."

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. "You're a sharp young boy...Reminds me of your grandfather actually." Turning his body slightly, his waved to them with his arm. "Now come on, it's disrespectful to keep the Third Hokage waiting."

The boys sighed. 'Well, this sucks.'

* * *

The next thing they knew, the boy found themselves inside the Hokage's office, Kakashi opening the door for them.

"Ah, hello boys," the old man said as he took a puff from his pipe. "I've been expecting you. Please, take a seat."

Both of them did as they were told and waited for whatever it was the Third wanted to tell them.

"Shinachiku," the old man addressed one of them. "Boruto," he addressed the other. "It seems there's been quite a bit of ruckus caused by you two these last few days. I saw what you told Kakashi in the interrogation room last night...And I also saw what you did to save Naruto's life."

The boys didn't say anything, only listened in nervousness.

"Listen boys," the old man put his pipe down and glared at them both. "Ordinarily I would not allow myself to entertain such nonsense as this...But after hearing what you told Kakashi and watching your performance last night, I have to say, I believe you."

"Y-You _do_?!" Bolt questioned in disbelief.

"I look at each of you and I see Naruto in each of your eyes. Honestly, the resemblance in pretty obvious, especially from you Boruto. How else do you explain those Nine-Tails markings on your cheeks, just like Naruto has?"

Bolt couldn't help but blush in embarrassment before turning his head away in annoyance.

"Besides," Hiruzen continued, "it's not every day you see two Genin successfully perform the fabled jutsu of the Fourth Hokage, much less see one of them find a way to improve it by changing it's chakra nature."

Now it was Shina's turn to blush, but unlike Bolt, he did not turn his head way at the Third Hokage's compliment.

"Forgive my Lord Third," Shina said, "but what exactly is it you want from us?"

"I want you both to answer a few lingering questions about why you are here, and how. For starters, if Naruto is indeed your father, then who are your mothers?"

Bolt caught onto what the old man said. "Mothers?"

"Yes, I heard you say that to Kakahsi as well."

Sharing a look again, the boys figured they might as well get this over with and lay what cards on the table they needed to.

"My mother's name is Sakura Haruno," Shina said.

"And mine is Hinata Hyūga."

"Hmm..." The Third Hokage pondered this news for a moment before speaking. "The Hyūga girl doesn't surprise me too much, but the Haruno girl...I'd assumed she was infatuated with the Uchiha boy?"

Shina couldn't help but feel a bit awkward explaining this. "Well,she is...for now. It's kind of a long story."

"Probably for the best that I don't know too much, it sounds like its getting personal and awkward for you two."

"You have no idea," Bolt muttered to himself.

"Now then," Hiruzen continued, "how did you both come here from the future? And more important, how can the two of you both be here if you're each from two different timelines, as you claim?"

Shinachiku sighed. "Sir, I'm afraid that is a very long and very weird story..."

...

...

...

It was about an hour or so later, and the boys had finally finished informing the Third Hokage about their story, or at least, as much of it as they could afford to tell him. The explained to him about some of what was to come in the future, mostly the barren wasteland that the village would be turned into unless they hadn't come back and stopped Mizuki's future self from killing their father. They couldn't reveal much else, like Orochimaru's attack on the village, or the rise of the Akatsuki, or about Sasuke's defection, or Pain's near destruction of the village, or about the Fourth Great War, or about Taka's infiltration. They had to keep those facts a secret, for if any of those things failed to happen, or if they happened in a different way, then there was no telling how different either of their futures would be once they returned home. Besides...it wasn't like the old man was going to live long enough to see most of those things either way.

Yes, even though it pained them both to do it, they knew they could do nothing to warn the Third about his tragic death at the hands of his own fallen student, Orochimaru. If they had, then Tsunade may never have ascended to Hokage herself, and then who knows what else could have happened?!

But the thing was...the old man was alright with it. He was not a fool. He knew the boys were not, and could not, tell him everything to come in the future. Just asking them to speak to him at all was risking too much...And besides, he knew that thanks to them, no matter what else happened, the Hidden Leaf Village would remain safe and prosperous. And that was good enough for him.

"Thank you boys, I believe I understand now."

"Domo arigato, Hokage-sama," Shina replied.

"Umm...sir, Bolt spoke up, "you aren't going to...y'know?"

The old man smirked. "Don't worry boys, your secret is safe with me and Kakashi, you have my word."

"Domo."

The boys got up, and as they did so, Shina bowed to the old man and said, "We really need to be going now, but it has been an honor sir."

"The honor is all mine boys. I hope you both make it back home."

Smiling and nodding, they turned to exit the office, leaving Kakashi alone with the Hokage.

"Sir," the Copy Ninja said, "you really think that Naruto will grow up to be everything those two say he will?"

"Under the right tutelage, yes Kakashi, I do." He then saw something in his crystal ball. "Speak of the devil, here comes the lad now. Will you excuse us please?"

Nodding, the Jōnin opened a window and leaped outside of it. Just as Naruto himself came through the door.

"Ah Naruto, I see you've had your picture taken for your registration file, yes?"

"Uh-huh. Here you go old timer!" The boys excitedly handed over the photo. Except when Hiruzen looked at it, it looked like...well, he had covered himself in garish makeup for the occasion. The writing on the profile said: "The thing I like to do most is making trouble, and my favorite food is ramen." Naruto himself just laughed innocently.

The old man appeared disappointed. 'Oh Minato...I fear your son has a _loooong_ way to go before he achieves his full potential...'

* * *

As they left the Hokage's office, the boys weren't going to let any more distractions get in their way. They were going back to those woods and finding that capsule and getting back home, now matter the cost!

"Alright," Shinachiku said as they descended down the staircase to the front exit, "if we're going to find the time machine, then we've got a lot of ground to cover."

"Literally."

Shina sweat dropped at Boruto's pointing out of his unintentional pun. "Touché. Now come on, no more distractions!"

"I'm coming for you old man!"

That voice did not belong to either of them. Now, it belonged to what sounded like a young boy, even younger than Naruto was right now. The child moved so fast that they did not have time to get a good look at him. All they could see was a quick, thin stream of blue pass across their line of sight.

"Who was that?" Bolt asked bewilderedly.

"I don't know..." Shina answered. "But something about this seems kind of familiar...WHOA!"

There was another voice that passed them by, this time from a grown man, one who was dressed in a solid navy blue shinobi attire and was clearly yelling profanities as he was, apparently, chasing after whoever it was that had run by ahead of him.

"What the heck is going on?"

Shina didn't respond to Bolt's question at first, but soon enough, he had to smack his forehead as it all came back like a ton of bricks. "Oh sweet Sage, I forgot!"

"Forgot what?"

"I read about this in dad's book. It was right after he graduated that he met my sensei for the first time."

"WHAT?! You mean that kid that just ran by us was Konohamaru-sensei?!"

"Yeah..."

There was a long, awkward pause before Bolt responded with the obvious statement of: "This trip is getting _really_ weird."

As they made their way through the village, they started to pick up the pace to make sure they made it to the woods before the time machine disappeared. But sure enough, as they did so, Boruto got distracted by something

'Ew! Is that dad and Konohamaru-sensei?! Are they sneaking into an adult book store? Gross!'

Because he was so distracted, he wasn't looking ahead of him and bumped into someone else on the street, knocking both of them over.

"Ow!" the other person shouted, though not nearly as loudly as one might have expected.

"Oh! Sorry about that, I didn't see you th—"

Of all the people in the village the he could have possibly bumped into, it had to _her_. Hinata blushed as their eyes made contact. Their eyes remained glued to one another like some sort of bizarre trance and both of them blushed, he because he was stunned that it was her, her because of how fascinatingly familiar he seemed...

Of course, that connection was broken as soon as he realize where his hand had landed when they'd fallen over...right on one of Hinata's jacket-covered breasts!

 **"AAAAAGGGHHHH!"**

Both mother and son screamed as one, with Bolt practically teleporting his hand off of her, err, feminine asset. Turning her head to the side, she quickly got herself back up and rapidly said "Gomen," as if this were somehow her fault. The girl took off as quickly as she could in humiliation, leaving the poor boy standing there, blushing, and feeling _very_ awkward, his hand still in an open, grasping posture.

"Hey?" Shina said. "Did you _really_ just do what I think you did?!"

"..."

"Bolt?"

"..."

"Hey! Are you alright?"

"...Tell me something."

"What?"

"When this is all over and I get back to my world, is this going to screw me up, permanently?"

Shina wasn't sure how to answer that, so he chose to just be blunt. "I hope not...for your sake."

"Right." Bolt started walking off in the opposite direction. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?"

"To find a bathroom, I need to go wash my hand... _real_ hard!"

* * *

After that awkwardness was over with, the boys started continued making their way through the village. Boruto still hung his head in shame, unable to believe the he'd actually just coped a feel of his own _mom!_ Who cared if it was an accident? Or if he wasn't born yet? It was still he freaking _MOM!_

'That was so fucked up...'

"Hey Bolt!" Shina said. "Get a hold of yourself man."

"You're one to talk! You're not the one who touched your mom's boob!"

"Oh for Sage's sake! Its not gonna turn you gay or anything!"

"Well it ain't gonna make me a teamster either!"

"I'm just saying that it could have been worse. I mean, it's not you saw her naked or anything."

"Hey! Don't you even joke about that sicko! I don't need any more nightmare fuel for one lifetime!"

"Gomen, gomen. Let's just focus on finding the time machine before any more awkward moments happen." Turning back ahead of himself, he frowned in pity. 'Poor kid, I'm just grateful something so weird hasn't happened to me.'

"Fine." And that was when Bolt's stomach growled, embarrassing the young blonde. "Hehehe. Gomen, but you wouldn't happen to have any food on you?"

Shina rolled his eyes and he stopped to go through his ninja gear. As he was searching for some spare food, Bolt noticed one of the shinobi weapons he'd kept on his person. It was a kunai, one with an orange and red string tied to the base, with a few light threads of blue subtly sown in as well.

"Hey, what's that?"

Shina saw where his eyes were wandering. "Oh, this? It's a birthday gift I got a long time ago from my Uncle Sasuke. I've always had it and I take it with me on all my missions."

As they were occupied, a stray crow was taking roost on a nearby power line. It saw the shiny glistening of the sunlight and became attracted to it. Squawking, the crow dove down and snatched the kunai up in his talons, flying away with it.

"HEY!"

Shina took off like a rocket, chasing the crow to get his kunai back. "Get back here!" He shouted at the bird, but the crow just flew higher and higher, out of the boy's reach.

'Damn it! Why do crows always have to be such jerks?!'

In the street, a little girl was trying to put on her roller skates for a fun stroll around the village, when her mother called her back inside, causing her to come back in and forget that she'd left her roller skates right in the middle of the street.

Squawking again, the crow flew over the top of the famous Konoha Hot Springs, when another crow flew in and tried fighting it over his prize. Their midair tussle resulted in the kunai falling out of the hot spring.

"Gotcha!" Shina exclaimed in both victory and relief when the kunai fell into the spring...But he was paying so much attention to what the bird's were doing that he didn't notice what was in front of his own two feet, which is how he ended up getting his sandal stuck in one of the girl's roller skates and found himself skating out of control, right towards the fence to the hot spring...

...

"Ah! This feels great..."

Sakura was relaxing in the steaming hot warm water, the spring all to herself. She didn't even wear her towel inside the spring this time, choosing to go ahead and take advantage of her privacy. But as she bathed there, she found her mind drifting, and for once it was _not_ towards her beloved Sasuke.

'That boy with the blonde hair the other day, why do I keep feeling like I seen him somewhere before? Those eyes of his, they kind of looked like...Naw! That's just silly! Still, that blonde hair of his does kind of remind me of—Oh! Don't be ridiculous Sakura! That boy was way cuter than Naruto.'

Still...all this thinking about that strange new kid got her remembering the strange thing's he'd said to her about that blonde doofus...

 _"Hey," Sakura said to the boy next to her._

 _"Umm...hi." Shina, despite his disguise, was still blushing awkwardly and trying to advert his gaze._

 _"Are you alright?"_

 _"Y-Yeah, I'm fine."_

 _"I don't think we've met. I'm Sakura."_

 _"S-Shina. Nice to meet you."_

 _Sakura nodded, before her eyes naturally diverted back to certain black hair boy. "Isn't Sasuke just the greatest?"_

 _"...I guess." Shinachiku couldn't wait for this mission to be over with; man it was getting weird!_

 _"You guess?"_

 _"Well, ah, I mean...he's pretty cool, but...I hear that Naruto kid's pretty cool too."_

 _Sakura actually laughed. "Haha! Naruto? Please, he's just a lazy idiot who can't even perform a henge right. All he ever does is play pranks and cause trouble for the rest of us."_

 _"Sometimes people are more than they appear."_

'What did he mean by that?' Sakura mind wandered. 'I mean, this is Naruto we're talking about! That doofus is just an annoying leach who won't stop until he gets between me and my Sasuke...Still, that guy did seem kind of mature for his age...Maybe he knows something that I don't?'

There was a splashing sound, like something had just fallen from the sky and fell into the water she was bathing in.

"What the—?

 _CRASH!_

Something burst through the fence of the hot spring. Panicking, she turned and saw a human head there! More shocking, it was his head! That Shina boy from the other day!

"Ugh!" the boy struggled to get his bearings back as his vision came back into focus. Shaking off his now gigantic headache, he looked to see where he was, and what he saw was the most traumatizing thing he has ever seen.

There she was, his own mother, the very woman who gave birth to him, now back to being even younger than he himself was now...And here she was staring at him in an embarrassed rage...completely...utterly...naked.

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!"**

"Oh my..."

 **"SHANNAROOOOOO!"**

One punch. Even before she'd even learned how to enhance her strength, one punch was all it took to knock the poor boy out like a light.

* * *

"I **swear** , I didn't mean to—"

"Pfft! Yeah right! You're just a great big pervert! You're lucky I don't call anybody on you!"

Shinachiku was sitting on a bench outside of the hot spring. Sakura was sitting away from him—with her dress back on, thank goodness—Her head turned away in a huff and her arms crossed.

"But I'm telling you, I was just chasing a crow that stole my favorite kunai that dropped it into the hot spring."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's the stupidest excuse I've ever heard! Just admit that your a pervert that was trying to take a peak at a beautiful girl like me!"

"No, no, no! I swear! There's no way I'd ever want to se **you** naked!"

"...What? You're calling me ugly now?!"

"Nonononono!"

"Why you little creep!" Sakura raised her fist back prepared to strike. "And I thought Naruto was a pest! I outta knock that brain clean out of your skull!"

Shina, terrified of the pinkette's terrifying, all-too familiar wrath, raised his hands up in defense. "No! Please! I'm sorry mom! Please don't be mad!"

...

...

...

Shina swore he could hear crickets chirping somewhere, it was so quiet. Dear Sage! Had he _really_ just said that?! 'Fuck! Way to go you idiot!'

Sakura's rage dissipated and was replaced by confusion. "W-What? What did you call me?"

"N-Nothing! I didn't call you anything."

"Yes you did. You just called me mom. Why would you do that?"

"I...uhh...It's just...you...you reminded me of my mother for a second there. Yeah...Yeah, don't tell her I said this, but my mom's got a bit of a temper too— _No offense!_ —And, well, just for a second there, you kind of reminded me of her."

Sakura was at a loss for words. It was weird, very weird what this kid had just explained to her...But for some reason, she believed him...Actually, she was getting this weird, calming sensation around this boy, something she didn't recall feeling before, even when around Sasuke. Jeez! What the heck was wrong with her! This boy just saw her _naked_ for crying out loud! ...So why couldn't she stay mad at him?

Lowering her fist, she took her seat again and said, "Listen, sorry I got so mad at you."

Shina scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It's okay, I probably deserved it either way."

"Actually," she remembered, "I think I did hear a splashing sound in there before you burst your head through the wall."

Shina just hung his head as he scratched himself more, trying desperately to suppress the memory.

Sakura stood up. "If you want, I can go back inside and see if I can get it for you."

"You don't have to do that. It's my weapon after all."

"Well, it was on the _women's_ side of the bath, so..."

"Fine, fine. Thank you, that would be very nice."

...

About ten minutes or so later, Sakura came back outside with the kunai. "Here you go."

"Domo arigato," he said to her as he took back his prized possession.

"Say," Sakura said, "If you don't mind me asking, what's so special about one kunai? Couldn't you have just bought a new one?"

"Yeah, but I got this as a birthday present when I was very little. See these strings here? They represent three people that are very special to me."

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"It's okay. Listen, sorry again about what happened, and thank you for getting me back my kunai, but I really need to go find my friend before it gets too late."

"Oh, okay then." She saw him about to turn around and leave before she stopped him again. "Wait!"

He turned back around. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry but...have we met before?"

"What?"

"I know I saw you in class the other day but...You'll probably think I'm crazy, but I keep getting this weird feeling that I know you somehow. Like something's familiar."

Shinachiku paused, contemplating how best to handle this very delicate situation. If he said the wrong thing then everything could be ruined for him.

"Maybe I'm just reminding you of someone else you know."

Sakura smiled. "Maybe. Your blonde hair does kind of look like that doofus Naruto."

Shina frowned. It was tough hearing him mother talking about his father like that. He wanted so badly to tell her the truth, tell her how great a guy Naruto really was, how happy she would be with him instead of Sasuke...But once again, for things to work out the right way for him, it was best he didn't say anything. Besides, if his dad's book was accurate, then at her age, there was virtually no chance that she'd be ready to here that _any_ boy was better than Sasuke anyway.

"Hey!"

"Huh?"

"The other day in class, you said Naruto was a cool guy. What were you talking about?"

"...He...uhh...I mean, he just seems like a good guy. He's funny, he tries hard even when he's at a disadvantage...Just keep an open mind, he might surprise you." He'd figured he'd better wrap this up. "Sorry, but I really should get going.'

"Okay sure. Nice talking to you Shina!"

"You too! By the way, my full name's Shinachiku. Umm...see you later."

As she saw the boy take off, Sakura stood there and smiled. 'Shinachiku, what a nice name...'

* * *

Boruto was pacing up and down the street. 'Jeez! Where is that guy?!'

He saw some kids playing across the street with their parents, namely this one boy with a toy sword swinging it around as he got a piggy back ride from his dad. Looking at it just made Bolt frown.

Turning his head elsewhere, he was surprised to see Hinata there yet again. She had a bag in her hands, no doubt having come back from buying groceries for her clan. When she saw him, she didn't run away, but she did gasp and turn her head embarrassed.

Feeling guilty, Bolt decided to take the chance and approach her. "Hey."

"H-Hi."

He scratched the back of his head, trying to figure out what to say. "Listen, I, umm...I sorry about, you know..."

Hinata blushed even redder. "O-Oh, t-that's okay."

"No, it not. I swear it was an accident, I should have been watching where I was going."

"It's alright, really."

"No! It's not! I'm the moron who knocked you down! _Twice!_ **Please** don't be mad at me for touching you!"

"It's okay, really..."

The two of them just stood there, neither knowing how to continue this conversation.

"So...?"

"Umm...Excuse me, my father is waiting for me back home."

"Okay, see you later mo—I mean, Mrs. Hyūga."

Hinata looked at him strangely for a moment before bowing and waling away...only to stop again. "Umm...?"

"Yeah?"

"It's just...have we met before?"

"I...don't think so...not yet."

"Oh. It's just, well, something about you reminds me of a boy I know." She felt herself blushing again as she confessed that.

"You mean Naruto?"

"Eep!" She squeaked in surprise.

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed. And yeah, I guess you could say I know him. Are you two, y'know...?"

"No! I mean, no, he doesn't..."

Something came over Bolt in that moment. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, don't give up hope. Just be patient and I'm sure he'll come around. And even if he doesn't..."

Bolt paused before he said anything more. He found himself thinking about Shinachiku, wherever he was. He thought about his mom's future in his timeline, and how happy she seemed to be there, until he came and ruined it.

"...Well, even if he doesn't, I know a pretty girl like you will find the right guy for you some day."

She smiled and blushed at the boy's compliment. "Domo arigato."

He smiled, until he finally saw Shina's form in the far distance. "Listen, sorry about earlier again. no hard feelings I hope. I hate to just up and leave like this, but my friend and I really need to get going."

As he was about to leave, Hinata called out to him again. "Wait!"

He stopped and turned around. "Yeah?"

"I, um, I never got your name."

He paused for only a moment before smiled. "Boruto."

"Will I see you again?"

"I hope so. One day."

With that, he took off to meet up with his friend. Hinata just stood there smiling at him. 'Boruto, what a nice name...'

* * *

"Okay, ready to go home?"

"Damn straight! Let's go find the time machine and get the hell out of here!"

Shinachiku and Boruto were making their way towards the village gate. They would need to use the secret exit that they had used to get in the first time they arrived, to ensure that Kotetsu and Izumo would not notice their trying to leave the village and accidentally label them as a pair of missing nin. The last thing they needed was a squad of Leaf ninja chasing after them right now.

All that mattered right now was them making their way out of the village. Just a few more meters until they got to that hidden exit...

"HEY! Hey guys! Over here!"

'Dang it!' Both boys cursed inside their heads.

Naruto had spotted them on the street and, true to his younger, idiot self, he called out to them by waving his hands in the air and shouting at the top of his lungs, not a trace of subtlety whatsoever.

He'd already spotted them both, so Shina figured they might as well play along. Turning to face his father, he waved and said, "Hey Naruto. How have you been?"

"Been good," Naruto said as he walked over to them. "Just got done teaching the Third's grandson a thing or two."

"Let me guess: a perverted transformation jutsu?"

"Yeah...Wait, how'd you know that?"

Shina rolled his eyes. "Lucky guess."

"Where is Konohamaru-sen—I mean, _student_? Yeah, that's what I meant! He is your student, right?" Bolt felt droplets of seat on his neck form the near slipup he'd just made.

Naruto just shrugged his shoulders obliviously. "Eh, he sees me more as a rival now really. So, what are you guys doing?"

Shina quickly came up with what he felt was the appropriate reaction. "We're...looking for a something we lost. It's actually in the woods outside the gate. We think we dropped it while we were fighting off that tiger guy the other night."

"Oh!" Naruto chimed in. "Let me help! I can show you a special way in and out of the village I discovered a while ago so no one knows you left. I can help you find what you're looking for. It's the least I can do after you two helped me the other night."

"Actually," Bolt spoke up, "no offense, but the thing we lost is kind of...personal."

"Oh, never mind then. I guess I'll see you in class tomorrow for when we assign teams then?"

The boys looked to one another with guilt. This needed to end, and it needed to end now, for better or worse.

"Naruto," Bolt said, "...We're not going to the Academy tomorrow."

"W-What do you mean?"

"Naruto," Shina said, "This is..." He sighed. "This is very hard to explain, and honestly I'm not even aloud to be talking about any of this, neither of us are. But the truth is, Bolt and I...we're not from around here."

Naruto was clearly confused. "You mean your not from the village?"

"No, we are...sort of. It's complicated."

"Why? If you're from the village, why do you have to leave?"

"We have no choice," Bolt added. "We just...We need to go back to our real home now."

"W-Where is your home."

Bolt frowned. "Far away."

"We came here with a very important, top secret mission to accomplish, and it involved you. And now that our mission is over, we need to go back to where we came from." Shina hung his head in guilt. "I'm sorry, but that's as much as I can tell you."

The elder blonde put a hand on Naruto's shoulder. "We need you to promise us three things, okay Naruto?"

"Three?"

"Naruto, please."

"Okay, okay. W-What is it?"

"First, don't come looking for us. You're going to make plenty of friends, trust me, maybe even a few unexpected ones, and one of them, someone very special to you, is going to need your help much more than we do some day."

"Umm...okay..."

"Second, don't ever forget who you are. Find that strength to persevere no matter what, and no matter what, keep training and stay true to yourself." Shina turned to Bolt and smiled before turning his head back. "We both know you're going to be an awesome ninja some day...and a great Hokage."

Naruto got excited. "Damn right I will! I'm gonna be the best Hokage ever! _Believe it!_ "

Bolt just looked on. His dad seemed so...pure. So innocent. So lonely one second, and then so full of energy and spunk the next. He found himself remembering once again those words that Sasuke told him before this crazy adventure ever began:

 _'He was just your typical flunky dropout...Not good at anything, and terrible at everything...But he overcame all of his shortcomings with his own strength...and became Hokage. It's not who Naruto is now that you should really know...But everything Naruto has been up until now.'_

Boruto smiled. 'Dad...Wherever you are, when I get home...I'm coming for you.'

"But wait," Naruto interrupted, "what's the third thing?"

Shinachiku smirked. "Find a girl you like."

The orange-clad ninja blushed and reacted in shock. **"WHAAAAAT?!"**

"Calm down, calm down. We just mean that one day you'll find someone, and whoever that is, I know you'll make her very happy some day."

"You guys are weird."

Shina chuckled. "I suppose we are. Well, thanks for everything Naruto. It's been... _educational_."

As Shina turned around, Naruto spoke one more time. "Wait!"

"Yes?"

"Will I ever see you guys again?"

Shina paused for a moment, not sure what to say. But he never got a chance to give his response, because Bolt beat him to it. "You'll see at least one of us again some day. I guarantee it."

Shina smirked. 'That was actually a perfect answer. Good job Bolt.'

"Well...I guess this is goodbye then..." Naruto seemed sad to see his two new friends go, but bizarrely, he wasn't heartbroken, even for a boy as lonely as him. Something about these two told him they could be trusted, even if he never did see them again.

"Oh wait! One more thing!" Naruto went up to Bolt and looked him in the eye.

"What's up?" Bolt asked.

"Something's been gnawing at my brain. When you told me that stuff about Sakura—"

"Whoa! Easy there! Listen, I'm sorry about what I said. You were right, that wasn't any of my business. You deserve whoever you want man."

"Err...thanks. But anyway, when you told me to 'remember the scarf', what were you talking about?"

Boruto paused for a moment. Shinachiku had stepped away to give them a moment, and he was grateful that he was standing far enough away so that he couldn't hear him...At least, he hoped he couldn't.

It was ironic really, all this time, he'd just wanted to get back home and get the hell away for this kid. But the longer he'd been forced to work with Shina, the more he was starting to feel bad about how much they'd been fighting.

'Man, he has been trying to be nice to me...And he does want to help me get back home. Maybe...maybe we can both get what we want. I mean, we were both living our own lives before, why can't keep doing that now?'

"Never mind that man, I'm sure you'll figure it out some day." He stole one quick glance at his counterpart before turning back. "And even if you don't, it's not the end of the world."

Naruto just stood there looking confused, but that only lasted a second or two before he just put on one of his famous goofy smiles. "Alright!"

"See ya Naruto! Oh, and good luck with your new team!"

"Thanks! Goodbye guys!"

As Naruto innocently waved goodbye, Bolt went back to join Shina, who was staring at him with folded arms.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing. Let's go."

Bolt went ahead of him, as Shina just stared for a second, and then followed, wondering just what all that talk of a scarf was all about.

As he started walking, Shinachiku couldn't resist turning back to take one last look at his father as he just stood there waving them goodbye, his whole future literally waiting ahead of him, what ever that future might be...

 _It's not time to make a change,  
Just relax, take it easy  
You're still young, that's your fault,  
There's so much you have to know  
Find a girl, settle down,  
If you want you can marry  
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy_

 _I was once like you are now, and I know that it's not easy,  
To be calm when you've found something going on  
But take your time, think a lot,  
Why, think of everything you've got  
For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not_

Boruto found himself looking back at his father one more time also. But unlike Shina, he was looking back not just with hope, but with a touch of guilt. He couldn't bring himself to tell him about his mother's scarf, out of respect for Shina, but now he had to just rely on faith that he made the right choice that it would all work out for the best...and that he would see his dad again when this was all over...

 _How can I try to explain, when I do he turns away again  
It's always been the same, same old story  
From the moment I could talk I was ordered to listen  
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away  
I know I have to go_

Naruto finished waving goodbye to his two friends, friends that he'd barely gotten to know and now already ad to say goodbye to. They had left him with a lot to think about, but he believed they were right, he would see at least one of them again some day...

 _It's not time to make a change,  
Just sit down, take it slowly  
You're still young, that's your fault,  
There's so much you have to go through  
Find a girl, settle down,  
If you want you can marry  
Look at me, I am old, but I'm happy_

"I think he'll do alright."

"Huh?"

"Dad," Shina said with confidence. "I think the timeline's pretty much fixed now. I think he'll be alright."

Bolt thought for a second, and wouldn't you know it, he smiled back at the boy. "Yeah."

 _All the times that I cried, keeping all the things I knew inside,  
It's hard, but it's harder to ignore it  
If they were right, I'd agree, but it's them you know not me  
Now there's a way and I know that I have to go away  
_

Reaching the secret exit to the village gate, the boys made their way through it, and so closed their mission in the past for good.

 _I know I have to go_

* * *

It the forest, the boys couldn't believe what they were seeing. There it was, not in capsule form, not stolen, just sitting there in full glory under the trees. The time machine was right there.

"How...?"

Shina shook his head. "I have no idea."

Bolt got worried. "You don't think somebody else saw it, do you?"

"I hope not, but there's nothing we can do about it now. Come on, lets put this thing back in the capsule and take it out to Training Ground 7 so we have some open space for takeoff. Then we can get inside, input the time coordinates, and go home."

"Right!"

Shina pressed a button on the side of the machine and it puffed back into it's capsule. Leaving the forest, they walked to the training ground and brought the machine back out again.

Getting inside, Bolt took his seat as Shina closed the cockpit and input the time codes.

"Alright, let's see...twenty-four years from now...Done! Okay, strap in and prepare for takeoff!"

"Right!"

Shina pressed the right buttons and the turbines activated. The machine thundered to life as it ascended into the sky for it temporal journey back to the future.

'Hang on dad," both boys thought as one. 'We're coming.'

What neither of the boys noticed, however, was that the time readout had glitched for a split second, before returning to normal. Shina though he'd heard something, but when he looked back at the screen to check, the readout said exactly what he'd input.

'Huh, must be seeing things. Oh well.'

The time machine wet the correct height into the sky, and seconds later, it has disappeared completely, leaving no trace that it was ever there at all...

...

...

...

* * *

In the not too distant future, a flash appeared in the sky's about Training Ground 7, just outside of the gates of Konoha. The flash disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and when it was gone, the time machine remained. Hovering in the dark, nighttime sky, the machine touched down on the grassy floor. There was nothing to scare away by its presence, not a bird, or a squirrel, nothing.

The engines stopped and the cockpit opened up. Shinachiku and Boruto exited the time machine and touched down, Shina quickly recapsulizing it for safe keeping.

'I've got to remember to give this back to Randamu the next time I see him.'

"Umm...hey Shina?"

"Yeah?"

Bolt pointed towards the village itself, and in the far distance, they could see what looked like...no, that couldn't be...It looked like some kind of _flying machine!_ Something just hovering over the village like a giant bird, or more accurately given its shape, like a giant metal _whale!_

"What the hell?" Shina asked out loud.

"What's going on?" Bolt asked.

"I'm not sure...Come on, lets go check it out."

"Can we use the front gate this time?"

Shina thought about it. Something about this just didn't feel right. "No...No, lets just use that secret entreance one more time."

The boys made the walk back to the village, sneaking in the same way that they had in the past...Only _this_ time, they couldn't actually _use_ it! The wall was much, _much_ higher than it was before, higher than either of them had ever seen it. There were security camera stationed at every post, electrified, bladed railings, and Leaf ninja walking up and down the top of the fence, on the lookout for something.

The Leaf ninja were also dressed very strangely. They weren't wearing typical shinobi attire. There were dressed in some kind of black leather, with black caps replacing their forehead protectors. Instead of flak jackets, they were wearing black leather suits. And their weapons, they weren't ninja weapons like kunai or shiruken. They were...well, neither of the boys knew what they were. They looked like something long and made of metal, and there were two barrels at the end of it, and there was some sort of trigger attached to it, whatever it was.

There was also something else bizarre about how the ninja were dressed, none of them were wearing the standard Konohagakure symbol. Instead, their uniforms were emblazoned on their shoulders and belt buckles with some sort of diamond shaped symbol. It was a strange six-sided diamond cut into six sections of a different color—red, green, blue, yellow, pink, and black—and within that shape was another six-sided diamond colored white, and with that was a very small, four-sided diamond colored gold.

"What...the...fuck..."

Shina couldn't come up with a reaction to Bolt profanity. He was utterly bewildered by what was going on! But he did know one thing, the only way they were going to get to the bottom of this was if they got inside that wall.

Suddenly, they heard something coming. Turning to look, they saw what appeared to be some sort of metal carriage, one that was running like it was powered by some kind of internal combustion engine. It was a fairly large one too, with a large tarp in the back. Whatever it was, Shina thought this was perfect.

"Psst!" He hised to get his counterpart's attention. "Come on!"

The boys stowed away underneath the, umm...whatever it was called, as soon as it came to a halt at the front gate. Getting underneath, the boys grabbed a tight hold on the piping and machinery underneath and held onto it to hold their weight.

One of the check in ninja, in one of those same uniforms, came out to question the driver of this machine. The boys heard him asking for something called "identification papers", and then to check his cargo. After they did so, the driver was signaled to go inside. The machine roared to life again and moved forward.

The boys must have spend about five minutes under this moving vehicle before the thing finally stopped and the driver dismounted. When the coast was clear, the boys got out from underneath the vehicle and stood back up on the street.

What they saw was _not_ the Konoha they knew. All the buildings looked wrong. They was so rigid, so sleek, so...sterile. They were also all in bland shades of gray and black. They only true sense of color to be found were these gigantic banners draped over many of the buildings, banners bearing that same colorful diamond symbol.

In particular, the old Academy building was gone. In it's place was a tall spire, the tallest in the village it looked like. Unlike the other buildings, this spire was a cool silver, highlighted by large white spotlights. Instead of having the diamond symbol on a banner, it was emblazoned on the building itself, like it was looking down upon the entire village below.

But that wasn't the thing that held Shinachiku's attention. Oh no. What held his attention was when he looked upon the mountain. The Hokage Rock! There were non longer seven faces carved into the side of that mountain. No, there was only one. And it was _not_ his father!

Is was a disturbing face, but a familiar face. It wasn't his father's face, but it looked awfully close. But it also looked like someone else he knew at the same time.

Shinachiku knew who it was, even if he'd only met this person once before. It was the man that Mitsuki had told him about, Orochimaru's creation, the perfect being.

"Sugure Mashita..."

* * *

Holy crap! What have Shinachiku and Boruto gotten themselves into this time?! Seriously, it was great to finally get out of the past story line and into this mysterious, dark, fascist, dare I say neo-Nazi version of Konoha. And who is the dictator behind all of it? None other than our big villain Sugure, who, let's not forget, we haven't seen ever since the end of chapter 11. And in that chapter, he and everyone else got wiped from existence. The boys may have prevented that future, but how did this one come to be? You're just going to have to wait to find out.

In fact, if anybody reading this chapter has any ideas or suggestions they would like to pitch to me regarding this fascist, police state version of Konoha, feel free to send them to me and I will take them into consideration.

As for the bulk of the chapter, this was mainly about the boys making peace with who knows their secret and how much they know. And also, of course, the awkwardness of the interactions with their dad and each of their mothers.

Yeah, lets get into that. I don't know what came over me, probably my lifetime love of "Back to the Future," but given the nature of this time travel scenario, I could not resist the chance to take advantage of a little oedipal humor. Don't read in that the wrong way, it was just a comedic opportunity that naturally presented itself that I took advantage of. Also, no offense whatsoever the my readers of the fairer sex, but frankly, accidentally falling on a girl and coping a feel, or accidentally getting a peak at a girl while she's in the hot spring, those feel like pretty typical anime jokes to me. It's just that this time it comes with the added context. Make of it what you will, but I just hope you got a great laugh out of it.

This chapter takes place during the same time as Chapter 2 of the manga and episode 2 of the anime, when Naruto and Konohamaru first met. That's why Boroto caught the two of them going into the adult book store for "research", and why later Shinachiku realized his dad had taught his sensei the Sexy Jutsu that he'd used on Ebisu.

The song I used in this chapter is "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens. It was used as the final song before the credits of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and I thought it would a really nice and potentially emotional fit. The song is cut up into verses that switch between the father and the sons talking, but given the time travel element, I thought I would leave it vague (somewhat) about which was actually singing, the father or the son...At least, that was the idea, I think it ended up coming across much clearer than I'd intended it to.

I think that's all I have to say for this time. I thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all back for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	18. Chapter 18--History's Mysteries

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi here with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I realize that it has been over a month since my last update, but quite a lot has happened to me this month, from increased pressure at work, to troubles with my car, to a personal tragedy. But as the month is dying down, hopefully I can start finding some inspiration again and start getting more material out to you guys.

Now, personally, I do not think this chapter is some of my best work, but it is an important chapter that will hopefully bring you up to speed on were we are and leave you asking questions about where we are going. I hope you enjoy it.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 18: History's Mysteries**

Shinachiku stared in horror at the face on the mountain. How could this be? How could the village have gotten this way? Why was _his_ face on the mountain? And where were his parents?

"Hey?!"

Boruto's voice broke his focus. he saw a platoon of uniformed shinobi marching down the street.

"Come on!" Shina grabbed Bolt by his shirt and pulled him into an alley way. The boys stayed silent until they saw the platoon march by without noticing them. Strangely, he found a stray smoke pellet on the ground, probably one that one of those uniformed ninja had dropped while on patrol. He quickly pocketed it.

"What the hell's going on here?!" Bolt demanded.

"I have no idea."

"Who's that guy on the mountain?"

Shina turned is head back. "His name's Sugure Mashita."

"Am I supposed to know who that is?"

" _I_ didn't know, until just before Mizuki went back in time."

"Well, who is he?"

Shina sighed. "From what my teammate Mitsuki told me—"

"Hey! He's _my_ teammate too!"

"R-Right, gomen. Anyway, he told me that Sugure's some sort of genetic superman made from the DNA of dad and Uncle Sasuke."

"Say what?!"

"Yeah, you heard me."

"So what, he's some sort of clone super freak? Like if dad and Uncle Sasuke fused into one person, or whatever?"

"Pretty much."

Bolt contemplated all of this in silence. Frankly, this whole mess was making his brain hurt. He'd already seen his father captured—maybe killed—by some pale skinned freak with eyes in his hands, then he woke up in this strange alternate world where his dad married his Aunt Sakura instead of his mom, then he had some jerk alter time so neither he nor Shina were ever born, and now here he was in some world where some super clone had taken over the whole village!

"Dear Sage! When will this nightmare end?!"

Shina hung his head. The boy needed to keep reminding himself that as horrific as all of this was for him, it had to be much worse for his interdimensional counterpart. "Gomen Bolt. I swear we'll find a way to fix this. We just need to figure out where everything went wrong."

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

"What?"

"You said that Mitsuki was the one who told you who this guy was, right?"

"Yeah..." Shina wasn't sure where the boy was going with this.

"How could he have known any of that?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, the Mitzuki I know was always kind of weird, and nobody really knows much about his past and all, but how could he know anything about super clones?"

Shina was going to open his mouth to answer, but quickly shut it. 'He must not know who Mitzuki's father is. If I tell him...'

"Umm..." Shina thought before answering. "I'm sure it's nothing important."

Boruto cocked an eyebrow in confusion until her heard a noise that sounded like a siren going off in the middle of the village. Then, across the village, several giant screens started broadcasting the image of a woman garbed in a black uniform.

"Good evening Konoha. It's 10:00 p.m. Curfew time," the woman said. "The Master wishes you all a pleasant evening."

The image disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared, leaving the two boys confused.

"Since when is there a curfew?" Boruto asked.

"I don't know, but we'd better find somewhere safe."

The boys made a move to get out of the alley they had ducked into and to climb the side of a building to the roof. But then...

"HEY YOU TWO!"

Boruto turned around at the sound of the booming voice. It sounded familiar...Standing there was a grown man with dark skin and above average height. He was lean in build with stern onyx-colored eyes and straight, black hair. He also wore a simple black cap, in place of a familiar red one that he'd worn in his youth. He was dressed in a back uniform with no color save for a symbol with that multi-colored diamond symbol on his shoulders and on his belt buckle. He carried a small black weapon on his hip with a trigger on it.

"Iwabee?"

"That's what it says on my badge. What are you two doing here? Didn't you hear the siren? It's past curfew."

As Boruto was distracted at the sight of his old rival, Shina stepped in to play the act. "Gomen officer, we apologize for any misunderstanding. We were just heading home now." The boys took off to leave right away.

"Not so fast!" Iwabee stopped him. "You know regulation, any civilians caught outdoors past curfew is required to undergo interrogation. I'm going to need to see some identification."

"Identification?"

"Don't play dumb with me! Let me see your identification papers, now!"

The boys traded a look at one another before Shina spoke again. "Oh...of course. Let me just check my pocket for a second...Ah! Here it is!"

The blonde pulled out that smoke pellet and threw it to the ground. The cloud of smoke allowed them to make their escape unseen.

"STOP!" Iwabee pressed a button in his wrist and spoke into his arm. "This is Agent 040517. Civilians caught outdoors passed curfew without I.D. Believed to be members of the Resistance. Requesting backup now!"

As Iwabee drew his weapon and pursued his targets through the smoke, he did not know that the boys had made it to the roof of the building looking down upon him.

"Looks like he took the bait. Come on, we've got to get out of here." Shina then noticed the look of confusion on the other boys face. "Bolt?"

"That...That was Iwabee."

"Yeah, you told me, that kid we both knew at the Academy."

"But he's a grown up now? And he's working for the bad guys?"

"Look, Bolt, we'll figure all this out later, but right now we need to—Damn!"

A large, mechanical machine of some sort was flying through the air. It was propelled by large spinning blades that were moving so fast that they could surely take the head off of any poor sole that came into contact with them while in motion. The flying machine was loud and ominous, and there was a searchlight installed on the machine's underside that was shining down on both of them.

"Targets acquired. Preparing to apprehend." They heard the pilot say. "Stay where you are! You are under arrest for curfew violation. Surrender immediately and do not resist. This is your first and only warning."

The pilot was doing all of the talking. There was a second shinobi poking his body through the flying machine pointing his triggered weapon at the two boys.

"RUN!"

Upon Shina's orders, the boys took off. The shinobi immediately pulled the trigger on his weapon, causing a series of lead projectiles to shoot out of the barrel of the weapon with a loud noise. The boys lept from rooftop to rooftop.

"Stay on them" The armed shinobi shouted at the pilot.

The boys kept running, but even with their speed they were having trouble staying out of sight of the flying machine's searchlight.

"Chopper 18 in pursuit," the pilot radioed in. "Subjects are traveling southbound. Units approach with caution. Suspects are considered armed and dangerous. Use of deadly force is authorized."

The ninja took a shot again, several shots. The boys just kept running and leaping, from rooftop to rooftop.

"Get me closer!" The shinobi shouted. "I can't get a clean shot!"

"What the hell!" Boruto shouted, it was not a question.

"We've gotta loose them." Shinachiku reacted quickly. "Down here!"

He and Bolt leaped down from the roof down into another dark alley. When they touched down on the ground, they started running through the alley to the other side. Surely they would loose their pursuers that way.

"FREEZE!"

Their path was blocked off by an entire squadron of uniformed shinobi, all of whom where pointing those strange triggered weapons directly at them.

They both looked from left to right, and they realized they were surrounded.

"We surrender." Shina raised his hands in the air, and Bolt did the same. One of the ninja came forward with a pair of handcuffs, but when they got close enough, that was when Shina put on a shit eating grin. "Syke!"

 _PFFT!_ Two puffs of smoke and they boys were both gone.

"Shadow clones!" The captain of the squadron cursed. "Fan out and look for them!"

"Captain!" One of the ninja saw a pair of shadows running across the other side of the street.

"Their heading for the construction sight! Form a perimeter! After them!"

Under their captain's orders, the shinobi squadrons, plus several reinforcements, set up a barricade around the construction sight. As their formed their perimeter on the ground, the flying machine was hovering over the unfinished building.

"I see them!" The shinobi immediately started firing. The boys were forced to take shelter behind a steel girder to avoid the hail of gunfire.

"We can't just sit here!" Bolt shouted over the loud fire.

"We can't just go running into that madness either!" Shina protested.

Down on the ground level, one of the ninja took aim at the building with a long, large projectile weapon and, upon the captain's orders, fired a smoking projectile onto the level that the boys were taking refuge on.

"Tear gas!" Shina covered his mouth as the canister the weapon shot out started spewing gas all around them. Bolt covered his mouth as well, while Shina looked around and saw that there was no activity coming from the other end of the building, just empty space and a couple of containers of compressed air. "Over there!"

The boys made their run for the other side, when one of the shinobi down on the street saw them and the didn't hesitate."

"There they are!" The ninja opened fire at the boys, forcing them both to take cover once again.

"HEY WAIT!"

The boys found shelter behind another steel girder just before a few stray bullets struck the compressed air containers. The impact caused the floor of the building to go up in a huge explosion, some of the debris even falling down onto the street below.

"YOU FOOL!" The captain cursed at the reckless shinobi. He turned to some of his other men. "Get a light up there!"

The ninja shined a large searchlight on the exploded floor, searching for any activity. Meanwhile, on said floor, the boys were getting up after taking shelter. They were both alone, but they both were limping from cuts and bruises. Shina in particular had a large, sharp piece of wood lodged in his leg!

"AAAGGHH!"

Bolt was quick to react. He yanked the spike out, and tore off part of his shirt to bandage the bleeding leg. "Come on, we've gotta go."

As he said that, he could hear a squad of armed ninja storming the floor to arrest them. Bolt lifted his counterpart up with his arm over his shoulder and they both limped in the opposite direction that the ninja were coming from. Blood was leaking onto the ground as they limped their way away, and by the time they made it to the edge of the building, there was that flying machine again, the searchlight shining directly on them, and the ninja with his weapon aimed straight as Bolt's head!

"Surrender now!" The ninja demanded.

Boruto gritted his teeth. 'If I try to run, I'll be too slow and they'll kill us. If I try to fight, I'll still be too slow and they'll hit us. Damn it! I'm so dizzy and weak I can barely see straight!'

This looked like the end. There was no way out for either of them...

"RASENGAN!"

A ball of chakra came into sight and was thrown straight at the flying machine. It impacted the machine's tail, causing it to spin out of control.

"Mayday! Mayday!" The captain screamed into his radio. "Chopper 18 going down! Mayd—AAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!"

The flying machine crashed into the side of another building in an enormous, fiery explosion. Both the pilot and the armed shinobi were instantly killed. Back inside the building, Bolt and Shina had fallen over from the force of the explosion, but they each could hear the sounds of punching, kicking and stabbing, along with the rapid firing of the enemies weapons.

Looming over them was a figure lit from behind. From their form, the person was clearly a young woman. Neither of the boys could make out the mysterious figure's face, but Shina could make out a well worn head of long hair before passing out from blood loss...

...

...

* * *

...

...

"Sugure Mashita," the blonde spoke again, "by the authority of the Chakra Gem Recover Squad, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and the Shinobi Union, I hereby place you under arrest—"

 _SNAP!_

A flick of the wrist was all it took to break the cable. But he didn't stop there. He grabbed he cable and flung Muon over to him. The boy quickly made a series of rapid hand signs and formed another whip made of pure lightning chakra to strike the superman with, but he instead backed away and dodged it electrical current. Nobody knew the name of Muon's jutsu because, well, he never shouted his technique's names during combat. With an electric crack the silent warrior attacked his opponent over and over again, but Sugure dodged the attack every time.

Tiring of this, Muon ceased his jutsu and created a new one, a sword made of pure electric chakra that he attempted to lunge at the enemy with the speed and agility of a true ninja...Except that the superman grabbed him in the air by the throat, strangling him.

"Let's see if this gets you to talk."

Sugure threw the boy clear to the other side of the alleyway, across the street and through a solid wall! The civilians inside the building went screaming in panic.

"Muon!" Shinachiku and Sarada both exclaimed, while Mitsuki was still too distraught to move.

'It's happening all over again...He'll destroy us...He'll destroy all of us...'

As all of this was happening, Mizuki was still on the ground stretching his horribly burnt arm out to grab hold of the chakra gem that still lay forgotten on the ground...

But Mitsuki's two teammates were not going to let this end without a fight! And so they made the proper hand signs, channeled their chakra, and applied the necessary change in chakra nature to form two of their signature techniques.

"WIND AND FIRE RELEASE: RASENGAN!"

"SCORCHING CHIDORI!"

"Foolish children!" Sugure gathered the chakra inside of his own palm to form a large Rasengan, then changed it's nature to wind to form a giant shuriken-shaped version that hovered in his hand above his head. "You think you can defeat me?! I am unstoppable! I am perfection! I am—!"

"History!"

The superman turned around to see Mizuki grab hold of the chakra gem and closed his eyes, focusing his mind and his chakra.

 _"No!"_

The rogue ninja instantly disappeared, the gem along with him.

The three young ninja all stopped in their tracks as they saw what had just happened...

...Nothing.

"What the hell?" Sarada's outburst echoed the confusion of everyone else. "Shina, what just happened? Where's Mizuki?"

Shinachiku glared at the spot where their target once slumped over. There were no trace of the old missing nin anywhere to be seen. It was like he just vanished off the face of the earth.

"I think—No, wait, nothing's changed..."

"Shina?"

The blonde turned to face his girlfriend, but he did not answer her question. He was simply too confused, too lost in thoughts that were going a mile a minute.

'I don't get it...He just used the gem...He went back...But everything feels the same...Everything...feels...'

 **"SHINA!"**

Snapped out of his thoughts, the boy looked at himself and saw that he was fading away! Very quickly, he was fading away.

"I..." The boy turned to her in shock. "I don't..."

"Shina! What's happening?!"

"I...I don't know..."

Shina was fading...but he didn't feel like he was dying. No, it was like he was just...going away somewhere.

Sadara could feel the tears already falling, The love of her life was disappearing right before her eyes and their wasn't a single thing she could do about it! Nothing, but reach out and take his hand.

"Shina! Don't leave me!"

"S-Sarada...I...I lo—"

And with that, he was gone...

* * *

Boruto was back at the Uzumaki household with his head in his hands. He'd really done it this time. He'd screwed up everything! Why? Because wanted to see her. That's all there was to it. He wanted to see her, and now he'd ruined everything for everybody.

"It wasn't your fault."

The boy looked up to see a smiling, beautiful woman with long red hair looking down on him. Even though he'd never met this woman before today, he knew who she was, and he could not deny, just being in her presence made him feel warm, safe, at peace.

"Grandma."

Kushina kneeled down and placed her hand on the boy's shoulder. He may be from some other universe, but he was still her grandson. She needed to say something.

"I couldn't do it," the boy said. "I just couldn't stay hidden anymore. It just wasn't fair. They all told me to stay hidden and I wouldn't listen. And now look what I've done!"

"Bolt, sometimes our desires can cloud us, lead us to choices that affect far more than just ourselves. Sometimes doing the right thing means putting aside what we want and doing what we must for those we love."

Bolt looked up at her. He couldn't speak, but he found himself chocking up as the woman brought him into a hug. "I just wanna go home..."

"I know, I know..."

Minato came into the room, looking upon the scene. He figured he's leave the two in peace...Until he suddenly noticed something wrong with the boy.

"Boruto!"

Kushiha was alerted by her husband's voice. Breaking the hug, she looked at the boy in her arms and saw that he was disappearing right in front of her!

"Boruto!"

The boy was lost, confused, and in a state of panic! After all of this, all of this craziness, all of this insanity, now he was disappearing altogether!

"Grandma...I don't..." He could barely find the words. "I don't know what's happening to me."

Her maternal instincts kicked in as Kushina held this poor boy in her arms tightly. "Stay with me Bolt. Just stay with me."

"I don't...I don't..."

The boy never got the finish what he was saying...Because he was already gone...

* * *

Hanami Uzumaki was in the room her grandparents had set up for her. She was just lying sitting there on her bed, thinking about all that had happened since that strange boy with the whisker marks came.

But then she felt it, some strange, sharp feeling of emptiness. It was almost like an alert, something instinctive. The girl didn't know what it was, but she knew that somewhere, something was very, very wrong.

For reasons she didn't understand, an single name left her lips. "Oniichan...'

* * *

Hinata Hyūga was in her bedroom, lying on her bed, crying. After Naruto left, Kiba decided he needed to get out of the house, so he left to go down to the local bar for some sake, anything to get his mind off of the insanity of the last hour or so. As for Neji, he left to go back to his apartment. This meant that the woman was all alone now...

But then she gasped. Something felt off, and it wasn't just the chaos of the last few hour. She felt some weird, instinctive sense of loss, like something else was terribly, terribly wrong.

'What is this...?'

...

* * *

Naruto was walking away from the Hyūga compound with his head hung low. Everything was crashing down around him. _Everything._

"Naruto!"

The blonde picked his head up at that familiar voice. "Sakura!"

The pinkette was clearly in a panic as she ran to her husband. She was worried about something and he figured that he knew already what it was.

"Do they know?"

"Yeah."

She cupped her mouth in her hands. Their friendship with the Hinata and Kiba and Neji was all ruined now. "Naruto...I'm sorry..."

"No, no, none of this is your fault. And it's not the kid's fault either. It's _my_ fault."

"No, no Naruto it isn't."

"Yes it is, and don't tell me it isn't."

Not knowing what else to do, they two of them came together in a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around his back and he ran a hand through her hair.

"I wish none of this had happened," Sakura said.

"Me too," Naruto answered. "But I want you to know something."

"What?"

"That no matter what, I'll always love you."

He smiled. Not a fake smile, nor a sad one, but a loving one. "Arigato Sakura-chan."

Leaning in, he claimed her lips with his own. She savored the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck, as he did so around her waist. It didn't matter what troubles came their way, no matter what, they would get through everything together, and nothing would ever change that...

Suddenly, Sakura broke the kiss in a weird sense of panic.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"Naruto..." She looked to her husband with her hand on her heart and panic in her eyes. "I feel...I feel like something terrible has happened."

"What do you mean?"

Sakura didn't understand why, but she could sense a dark pain in the pit of her stomach. "Naruto...where are our children?"

...

* * *

Jōkā stood there in a nightmarish scene of utter carnage. The entire squad, every single one of Shinachiku and Sarada's closest friends, all of them lie dead and cut to pieces, everyone's blood mixing with everyone else's. They all fought to their last breath, but their opponent had spent the year studying them too well, and with their chakra now lost to them, and their techniques useless even if they'd had them, they were simply no match for the wolf that had hidden among them in sheep's clothing.

Shikadai, Inojin, Chōchō, the next generation of Ino-Shika-Chō, had all fought, and died, together. The Izuzuka-Hyūga twins found their mutual peace in each other's arms. The two lovers from the Land of Water embraced as they both died sharing their last kiss. Bagu was fallen with his arms out and his sunglasses shattered, his insects falling out of his body as they gasped their own last breaths. And Sunako, her gourd was broken and her enchanted sand spilled onto the floor where it turned red by absorbing the flowing red blood. Her last word, as she peered up at the sky, was simply, "Mother..."

His work was done, his so-called team was destroyed, and now he could finally leave this snow-buried hell hole and return to his true masters. It was a shame that Uzumaki, Uchiha, and those other two could not be here to join their friends in their massacre, but oh well, it left something for the rest of his order to follow up on, perhaps even his master.

Chuckling, he left the room, putting his weapons away and grabbing his laptop as he made his way back to his former room to gather the rest of his stuff.

As soon as he was done packing, he opened up his laptop again and started typing on his secure channel:

 _"Master, are you there?"_

There was no response for a moment, until on the screen appeared a simple, _"Yes. Did you sent Uzumaki the message I told you to?"_

 _"Yes master."_

 _"Good. Then with any luck they have stopped Mizuki from changing the past and Taka can continue to survive."_

 _"Yes, but master, we have another problem."_

 _"What is it?"_

Jōkā sighed before he continued typing. _"My position has been compromised. That bastard Nara has figured out my secret and exposed me to the entire squad. I had no choice but to kill them all."_

 _"..."_

 _"Master?"_

 _"This is most disappointing. You have been exposed without first securing the chakra gem in Uzumaki's position."_

 _"I realize that master, but I will find him and claim it for you. I swear it."_

 _"Are you certain that Uzumaki and his friends do not yet know that you have betrayed them?"_

 _"Yes sir, I am."_

There was a pause before the mysterious Taka master continued his message. _"Well then, it seems you have a train to catch."_

* * *

Sarada Uchiha looked in horror, tears streaming out uncontrollably. The love of her life had literally just disappeared from her sight. It was like something out of a nightmare.

'Where...Where is he?! WHERE IS HE?! **SHINA!** "

Muon had gotten up from across the street where he'd been knocked down and wobbled over to the battle sight. Meanwhile, Mitsuki was still standing in the same place, the horror of both seeing this monster again and of witnessing the disappearance of his captain overwhelming him.

Sarada, practically hyperventilating, turned to face the mysterious stranger in anger. "What is this? WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"..."

" **ANSWER ME!"**

Sugure's answer was to rapidly, with speed none of the kids had ever witnessed before save from Sarada and Shina's fathers, took a knee, made a tiger sign, and cast a seal on the ground, large enough to cover the areas where all three of them were huddled together.

Some sense of realization came over Mitsuki in that moment. He knew what this was from his studies. And he knew that he had to stop it! "Wait!"

"Wipe out."

"The three of them began to glow. It did not last long. And when the glowing stopped and the seal dispelled. The three of them all appeared confused as to what happened.

Sugure didn't wait. He used the split second opportunity that the kids were confused to leap out of their eyesight and onto the rooftop of the alley they were in. To them, it would be like he was never even there.

"Wha...What happened?" Sarada questioned.

"I don't know," Mitsuki answered. "What are we all doing in this alley?" Hey Muon, you know anything about this?"

"..."

"Dismissing her teammate's usual silence, Sarada made a realization. "Hey wait a minute! Where's Shina? He and I were supposed to be on a date...But I don't remember anything until after this rude guy in a robe bumped into us."

"What rude guy?"

"I don't know, I never got to see his face. Mitsuki, do you have any idea where Shina is?"

"I regret to say that I don't know where the captain is. The last thing I can recall was doing research in the village library. After that..." Mitsuki scratched his head and rubbed his eyes. "...I...I can't recall a thing after that."

"Me neither." Sarada got out her cell phone and called her boyfriend's number. There was no answer, just static. "Hello? Hello Shina? Are you there? This is Sarada. Pick up! Shina! ...Shina this isn't funny! Pick up!"

Hanging up her phone, she tucked it back into her pocket and turned back to her teammates. "I don't get it, it's like his phone's not working."

"Maybe his phone is turned off?" Mitsuki suggested. "Or it's run out of power?

"Maybe...I think we need to go look for him."

"Starting where?"

"There's a takoyaki restaurant on the other end of the village, that's where I last saw him. Come on!"

With their captain mysteriously missing, that meant that Sarada was currently in command, so the boy's did nothing to question her orders, lest of all on a situation like this.

With a shared nod, the three of them all ran out of the alley and down the street. Above them, Sugure was smiling beneath his cloak. This has all gone just as he'd hoped. They may now be on a manhunt for their missing captain, but at least thy no longer had any memory of his presence, or even his existence.

'Hmm,' he pondered, 'then again, Mitsuki still remembers me of course. But as long as I stay out of the boy's way, he should have no reason to recall me or speak of me to his friends. Even if does remember something, he'll likely think it's just a dream or a nightmare of some kind. Right now, I have bigger things to worry about."

That was true. The Uzumaki boy was gone, as was Mizuki. And with them, so was the Time Gem. 'I might have to rethink my plans...'

Down on the street level, Sarada could only keep her mind on one, singular question that repeated over and over within her mind. 'Shina, where are you...?'

...

...

* * *

...

...

"Wha...Where am I?"

"Good, your awake."

Shinachiku had finally come too and he could hear the unfamiliar voice, but he could not see where it was coming from...In fact, he couldn't see anything. His eyes were wide open, but all he could see was blackness.

"Who's there?" he demanded. "What's going on? Why can't I see anything?"

"Don't panic," the voice said. "You are back at our hideout. My men weren't happy about it, so I told them to cover your head until we made it back...And bind your hands and feet too."

"So, what, I've got a burlap sac over my face?"

"Yep. Nothing personal."

"Can you get it off of me please?!"

"Not yet. My men are worried you might be a spy."

"A _spy_?! Now wait just a minute!"

"Like I said, nothing personal. We can't afford to take any chances."

"Where's Boruto?"

"He's right next to you. He hasn't woken up yet. Fine by me, _you're_ the one I'd rather talk to anyway."

Shina couldn't help but feel a tad nervous. "What's that supposed to mean?" He didn't get any response back. "Look, I don't have to put up with this! Untie me right now or else!"

The boy suddenly felt something cold and sharp pressed up against his neck. He didn't need to be able to see to guess that it was a bladed weapon, and a sharp one at that!

"You're in no position to be making threats at me!" The mysterious woman threatened. "Not **you**!"

"I...I'm sorry, alright? I'm just...Look, why don't we start over? I'll explain who I am and prove that I'm not your enemy. All you have to do is untie me and tell me who you are."

There was a pause before the mysterious figure finally pulled the weapon away. "Fine."

The burlap sac was yanked off of his face, forcing the boy to blink a few times to get used to the stray rays of sunlight. He found himself inside of a cave of some sort, one with a flowing waterfall and cold, wet rock. There were several ninja running around the cave, some carrying supplies, others sharpening their weapons, others training, others just going about their business. There were two ninja sitting right behind him with their arms crossed and scowling at him, obviously waiting for him to make a move so they could cut him to ribbons.

But the boy didn't care about any of that. All of his attention was squarely focused on the woman standing right in front of him. She was tall, fit, with long, pink hair and blue eyes, and she was staring him right back.

Shina's eyes widened. He knew exactly who this was, and yet he could not believe it. "Hanami..."

* * *

And with that, I think that is a good a place to end this chapter. On second thought, maybe this one turned out better than I first thought it did? As long as I've still got you all hooked, that is good enough for me.

First thing's first, you probably noticed there was a lot of cut and paste from Chapter 11. This was intentional, as I wanted to make it clear where we were catching up with some of our characters back in the present timeline. Also, frankly, it has been so long since I posted that chapter that I figured a little refresher might help.

Some of you may also rush to call Sugure's Memory Erasing Seal a deus ex machina...which in a way, I suppose it is. However, this idea was actually taken straight from the Shippuden movie "The Lost Tower." At the end of that movie, Minato uses it on Naruto and Yamato to erase their memories of what happened...just as Naruto was starting to figure out that this guy might be his father...of course. Since Sugure is made up of DNA from both Naruto and Sasuke, I figured it wasn't too out of left field that he could use one of Minato's jutsu.

One thing that I **AM** proud of in this chapter is the ending. I was actively trying to mislead you into thinking that the mysterious woman that was rescuing the boy's was the future version of Sarada, hence why I placed both of her scenes where I did in the story. But in truth, I always knew that this was instead going to be future Hanami. Yep, our NaruSaku fandom's adorable little girl is now a grown woman and leader of a resistance against Sugure's rule. After the way I used her for much of "Shinachiku First Adventure," I decided that giving her a more proactive and stronger role was important, I am feel pretty confident that most of you will agree with me.

There were a few Easter eggs and references in this chapter as well. There was the Iwabee cameo, of course, for you Boruto fans out there, since I had already said that he did exist in both Bolt's and Shina's timeline. But really, that entire future chase sequence at the start of the chapter is inspired by not one, but two stories in the DC Animated Universe. The fascist future angle is (in part) inspired by the "Superman: The Animated Series" episode "Brave New Metropolis," in which Lois ends up in an alternate reality where Superman had failed to save her life and as a result turned into a fascist dictator working alongside Lex Luthor to impose his dominion over Metropolis. Iwabee's role in particular was very much based on Dan Turpin's role in that episode.

The other reference was the chase itself, complete with the helicopters and the boys constantly being shot at. This was based on the police chase scene from "Batman: Mask of the Phantasm," in which Batman has been framed for Phantasm's murders and the GCPD ruthlessly pursue him (not unlike they do in both "On Leather Wings" and "Over the Edge" actually). The captain of that platoon was given dialogue very much like Harvey Bullock's also.

Oh yeah, the guns. Yes, that's right, shinobi using freakin' GUNS! Not only was this yet another clue as to how f***ed up this future is, but it pays off the scene I had set up in previous chapters with Katasuke demonstrating his invention of guns to Sasuke, Shikamaru and Sai, and all of them denouncing the very idea of them...Apparently Sugure had different opinions.

Oh, and if you thought that all of the cars and helicopters were too much, remember that in my prequel story "Konoha Tonight," I did set up that Inari was working on the flying machine called the Tobichachimaru, so it does still fit.

Iwabee's identification is Agent 040517, an obvious reference to the date of the character's first appearance. Chopper 18 was just a reference to the year of this chapter's posting, 2018.

I think that's all I've got for this time. Thank you all for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	19. Chapter 19--Fated Meetings

Hey everyone, thesaiyanjedi here with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure."

I know, I know, it's been another long delay. I don't know why I keep letting you guys down like this, but I'm trying. A lot of it is scheduling, and a lot of it is also simple writer's block. This story, quite frankly, has been a lot more difficult for me to plot than "Shinachiku's First Adventure" was. Not surprising, since it is a more complicated structure. Either way, I thank you all very much for your continued patience.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 19: Fated Meetings**

"Hanami..."

 _WHACK!_

"OW!" Shinachiku put a hand over his nose after the woman punched his right in the face! "What was that for?!"

"That was fifteen years coming you big jerk!"

"As if you don't know you big jerk!"

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

The woman picked the boy up by his shirt and glared at him. She was angry. _Really_ angry.

If this really was who Shina believed she was, then this was a pain and a wrath the likes of which he had never seen before...And quite honestly, it scared him...But there was something else as well. Something the boy had seen in her eyes before, in moments he'd like to forget. Something that broke his heart whenever he saw it...

She was is pain.

She just held him like that making no further action. It was almost as though she couldn't make up her mind. Did he deserve a hug, or another punch in the face?

She settled for letting go of him, thankfully a gentle release instead of throwing him to the stone floor.

"You look exactly the same," she said. "Why?"

Shina scratched the back of his head nervously. "Err...It's a long story."

"Where have you been?"

"That's part of the long story."

"You're supposed to be dead."

Shina paused in shock. "W-What?"

"Shinachiku Uzumaki is gone. He disappeared fifteen years ago out of nowhere. None of us had any clue where he disappeared to, him or that strange boy that appeared through the Reality Gem." Shina could have swore that this tall, strong young woman standing in front of him had the beginnings of what looked like tears in her eyes. "He let us...He left _me_."

Shina could feel his heart sink into his stomach. 'Great Sage, I left them all...Is...Is all of this really because of me?'

His thought were cut off when he heard the woman draw her katana once again. "And now, my team and I find you..." She pointed her weapon at him, and then at the still unconscious Boruto. "...And him, causing a ruckus across the village and nearly getting yourselves shot to death. Your lucky we arrived to pull your sorry asses out of that there or you'd both be six feet under now."

Shina suddenly remembered the madness that they'd been forced to take shelter from in that building. He looked down at his leg and saw that it had been braced and bandaged up.

"I had my team re-bandaged your leg and I applied some mild healing jutsu on it," the woman explained. "It was enough so you'd stop bleeding," she scowled. "...But not enough that you can run away."

Shina swallowed a lump in his throat. "Hey, umm...Are...Are you really Hanami?"

The woman raised her sword again. "No, you're the one answering _my_ questions! Now you tell me. Are you the real Shinachiku Uzumaki?"

"Yes."

"Then how are you not dead?"

"I never was dead. I'm..."

"Yes?"

"You'd think I was crazy if I told you."

"You're inside of our secret base, and many of my team are telling me the get rid of you as it is! You're dead if you **don't** tell me!"

'Well, she's got me there.' Shina sighed. "Fine. I am Shinachiku. And the reason I'm alive is because...I'm a time traveler."

"..."

"Umm, Hanami?"

"You're right, you are crazy. I should have just left you two in that building to get shot."

"NO! Wait! I swear I'm not crazy! I mean—Trust me, I **wish** all of this was just some crazy dream, but it's not!" I am the real Shinachiku Uzumaki. I'm your brother!"

 **"MY BROTHER IS DEAD!"**

The volume of the woman's voice was like a siren cutting through the quiet of the darkness. you could hear a nothing else around but the roaring of the waterfall inside the cave. Every one of her team had stopped what they were doing and just stared at her, and at him.

Wiping the tears in her eyes, the woman recomposed herself again before continuing. "My brother is gone, he has been for fifteen years. All I see now is some child who looks like him."

Shina was heartbroken. "Hanami..."

She signaled to two of her men. "Get them out of my sight."

The two shinobi were more than happy to oblige. They grabbed the boy and his unconscious counterpart.

"HEY!" Shina screamed as he struggled. "Let me go!"

"You want us to kick them out?" one of them asked their leader. "Or worse?"

Her back was turned away from them as she answered. "You both know the rules. Nobody can know where our hideout is...Silence them both."

Nodding, they grabbed them both to pull them outside to be dealt with.

"WAIT!" Shina kept yelling. "WAIT! Hanami! You can't do this! It's me! It's really me!"

"Shut up brat!" one of the shinobi yelled.

"NO!" No let go of me!"

In the struggle, Shinachiku ended up breaking free of them both. He quickly threw a hard left hook straight into one of the ninja's faces, followed by a back flip kick into the other guy, knocking him down.

"Stop him!" one of the ninja shouted.

The entire squad of Leaf ninja, numbering almost a hundred, all gathered together, weapons drawn, to gain up on one boy.

Shina stared them all down. He couldn't believe this was happening, he didn't want to fight anybody. And frankly, doing that back flip with his bum leg wasn't exactly his smartest idea. But, nevertheless, there seemed to be no other way that he and Bolt were going to get out of this one with all of their limbs attached.

'Damn it...'

Shinachiku created two shadow clones to help him as he focused his chakra into his palm. While one of clones worked to help change the technique's chakra nature, the other made a second change to it's nature.

The commotion caused the woman to dart her eyes back towards the scene, and the widen in surprise at what she saw. 'What? That's can't be...'

The boy's jutsu changed form. Rather than a normal Rasengan, this jutsu had four blade-like protrusions from it's center, looking like a fūma shuriken...one that was on fire!

"Don't make me do this," he pleaded with the shinobi. His only response was them all getting into a battle pose, ready to strike him down at a moment's notice. "Fine."

"Stand down. All of you."

The entire squadron did as they were told, but it was not their leader that gave the order. It came from an old man, roughly in his mid sixties, with spiky silver hair, shinobi attire, and the bottom half of his face covered with dark blue cloth. The old man also had a distinctive scar running down his left eye.

"Lord Sixth," one of the Leaf ninja addressed, "what are you doing here?"

"Stepping in before somebody here makes a wrong move that gets someone killed." The old man stopped in front of the surprised young man before him holding the flaming Rasengan. He gave one of his famous eye smiles and simply said, "Good to see you gain kid."

He kept walking, leaving Shina confused, and yet also elated to see Kakashi was still alive. In this state of mind, and recognizing that he was apparently not in any danger anymore, he allowed his jutsu to dissipate and vanish.

The former Hokage finished walking and came over to whisper in the woman's ear. "I would have a word alone with you."

After thinking only for a moment, she gave the signal to her team to lower their weapons and stand down, which they promptly did. They also stepped aside as the two of them departed together to speak some place more private.

"Oh, one more thing," Kakashi said to the rest to the shinobi, "try to find these boys some place more comfortable, and find them some food if you can. We do need to show proper manners to our guests after all."

The old man and the young woman started walking again, As one of the ninja came over to Shinachiku. "Is there anything in particular you would like to eat sir?"

Still taking in all the insanity of what had happened in the last few hours, the boy just responded by asking, "Have you got any ramen?"

...

...

...

* * *

"Shina? Sweetie? Its mom. Pick up! Please baby, just answer the phone when you get this, please?"

Sakura hung up her phone and sighed. She could not shake this dark feeling in her soul that something was very, very wrong.

"Still nothing?"

"No. I don't understand, where is he?"

Naruto put his hands up in the air. "Calm down, calm down. Have you tried calling Sarada? I thought they had a date today?"

"I've been trying to reach her, but her line is always busy."

Naruto was in deep thought. His wife had a point, it wasn't like Shinachiku to just give his family the cold shoulder like this. He was always a responsible young man who didn't leave those he loved in worry. Maybe she was right, maybe something really was wrong?

"Sakura," he said, "try calling Sarada one more time."

The pinkette dialed the girl's number again and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Sarada! Is that you?"

"Yes. Is that you Aunt Sakura?"

"Yes dear, it's me! Listen, is Shina there with you?"

"No! The guys and I have been looking for him for at least an hour now!"

Sakura felt her own face grow pale. "What?! I thought you two were together today?!"

"We were! We were on our date and then he was just...gone. I can't remember where he went."

"What do you mean you don't remember?!"

"I don't know! I can't remember anything from the last hour or so! None of us can!"

"You'd better start remembering something kid! My son is missing!"

"SAKURA!"

She stopped her screaming at the tone of her husband's raised voice. It was enough for cooler heads to prevail and for the disparate mother to cool her head. After all, panicking and yelling wasn't going to solve anything.

"Sarada," she said, "I'm sorry. I'm just—" Sakura clasped her hand over her mouth as she could feel tears forming. "My baby boy is out there and he's not returning my calls and I can't find him and I've just got this sick feeling in my stomach and—"

"Its okay, really." Sarada said, "I'm worried about him too. Mitsuki, Muon and I have been searching the entire village for him and we aren't finding anything. And damn it! None of us can remember anything about where he might be!"

Sakura just could not understand any of this. Her son was missing and his boyfriend, her own goddaughter, could not remember the last time she saw him! This made absolutely no sense, and she needed answers. **Now!**

"Sarada," she said, "Sweetie, I need you to call me back the instant you find him, or even if you find any clue where is he. Do you understand me dear?"

"I do. And I swear that I'll let you know the instant I find him. I promise."

"Domo arigato Sarada. Bye."

Sakura hung up her phone and hung her head. She felt Naruto wrap his arms around her and accepted the hug. All the while, she rubbed her still flat but pregnant stomach. heaven forbid she should somehow gain another child after finding out something terrible had happened to her first born.

"Where is he Naruto? What's going on?"

Now even Naruto was becoming scared. "I wish I knew Sakura. I wish I knew."

Something came over him in that moment. Letting go of his wife, the blonde got out his own phone and dialed his house. He waited for someone on the other line to pick up.

"Naruto?" a familiar woman's voice could be heard on the other side of the line.

"Mom? Yeah it's me. Listen, I needed to check in and see what was happening with—"

"Oh Sage! Naruto, sweetie, I'm so sorry!"

The blonde was confused, and a bit worried, at the clear panic in his mother's voice. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"Honey, it Boruto! He's gone!"

"What?! You mean he ran away again?!"

"No! I mean he's gone! He just disappeared right in front of your father and me! I-I don't know how it happened, it's like he was being erased and now he's gone!"

Naruto broke out into a cold sweat. As he listened to his mother speak. All at once a million terrifying ideas ran through his brain at the same time. His son was missing, Boruto was gone...It couldn't be.

"Naruto?" Sakura said. "Naruto, what's going on?"

He didn't hear anything his wife was saying. His mind was too lost in his own paranoia. All he could do was continue speaking.

"Mom," he said, "what happened to Boruto, I need you to tell me _everything_..."

...

...

...

* * *

"It can't be him."

Hanami wasn't hearing any of it. There was no chance that this strange boy that showed up out of nowhere could possibly be the same boy she's dreamed of seeing again her whole life.

"Hanami," Kakashi said, "I know why you're so afraid of admitting the truth?"

She frowned. "No you don't."

"Because you're afraid."

"I'm not afraid that this kid is my brother!"

"No, you're afraid that he _isn't_."

Hanami reacted in shock. "What did you say?"

Kakashi sighed. "I don't need a kekki genki to guess the obvious. Your brother was your hero, to most amazing person in the world to you, and then one day he was gone. And now that he's back, you're afraid that if you welcome him back into your life, you're just going to loose him all over again."

The pinkette scoffed and looked away. "That's crazy."

"Do you really believe that?"

She clenched her fist in anger. "It's a trick. A ploy by _him_ to lure me into a state of weakness. I've made it this far by trusting my instincts."

The old man paused for a moment before trying something else. "And what does your heat tell you?"

She gave no response other than a cold, empty glare.

Kakashi sighed. "Listen Hanami, if its hard evidence you need, than you should see what we found on the boy when you ordered you team to search their unconscious bodies."

"I already saw it," she answered coldly.

"And?" Kakashi asked insistently, to emphasize his point.

She paused briefly before answering. "A kunai, well maintained, with orange and red string tied to the base, and a few threads of blue sown in too.

Kakashi nodded. "His favorite kunai. Sasuke gave that to him—"

"As a present for his first birthday! Yes, I remember! It doesn't prove anything!"

"...Maybe not."

"Face it Kakashi, my brother is dead. He died when I was just a girl and he's never coming back. Besides, its not as though anyone has any clue what happened to him anyway."

Kakashi hung his head. He didn't know what she was going to say, or whether she'd even believe him. Perhaps she would hate him? Perhaps he deserved it? All he knew was that after this, there was going to be no going back.

"What if someone did know what happened to your brother?"

Hanami appeared visibly confused. "I don't understand."

"What if, a long time ago, someone close to your family met hour brother and learned from him a great secret. What if that secret, if it ever got out, could jeopardize his own future if it ever got out. And what if, to prevent you from feeling any more pain...I kept that secret from you?"

Hanami's eyes glossed over, her body cold and stiff as a statue. "What are you saying...?"

The old man paused before letting out a very long sigh. "Hanami, there's something I have to tell you..."

...

...

...

* * *

In a secret hideout, a young boy sat at a desk waiting. He was dressed in a yellow sweatshirt, pants, boots and cloak, with gold trimming around to be found running through his get up, accentuated by his silver belt with a unique, multi-colored belt buckle. The boy was waiting by his cellular phone, to hear word back from his wise and brilliant master, the man he idolized and would do literally anything for. The man that was like a father to him.

Of course, the only reason he had nothing to do but wait there was because while the master was away, that left the second-in-command, Geki, in charge until he got back. And while Geki was a strong man with honor and concern for his teammates, he also wanted the youngest of their team to stay out of the way for a while, while he and Goushi being her concocted strategies for the next phase of the master's plan. Burai, as per usual, would argue with almost every decision that Geki made and insist that he should have been in charge. Dan had kept him entertained for a while, but he ultimately left in to go about his own business. And Mei was at her own post so she wasn't available to talk.

All of a sudden, the phone rang, and the boy quickly picked it up and answered.

"Hello?"

"Boi, it's me."

"Master?"

"Hai."

Boi let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, master, I was becoming nervous that you weren't reporting in."

"Don't be son," Sugure said over the phone. "It looks like my mission here is complete. I'll be catching a train out of the village as quickly as I can. I trust nothing has gone wrong since I've been away?"

"No master. Geki is doing an excellent job filling in your place, as usual."

"And Burai?"

Boi frowned before answering. "They're arguing again."

"I'm not surprised. I'll have to have a word with Green when I get back... _again_."

"OH!" The yellow-clad superman with the shark-like teeth reacted in shock. "What about your mission master? Did you recover the chakra gem from Mizuki?"

"...Negative."

"Master?"

"I'll explain when I return, but I'm afraid that our plans might have to change a bit. Please inform the others for me."

"Hai!"

"That's a good boy. See you at home."

"Yes sir!"

Boi heard the line hand up on the other end, and quickly got up from his seat to find Geki and inform him of the news.

* * *

Over in Konoha, a man in white robes was standing in an alley way in the heart of the village. Nobody paid attention to him, because everybody else was busy looking ahead of where they were walking, distracted by their mobile devices and their own inferior, meaningless existences to even notice the presence of a superior being in their midst.

No matter, sooner or later that was going to change...

Finishing his conversation with his youngest follower, Sugure hung up the phone, dropped it onto the pavement, and smashed it under his foot, destroying any evidence that someone could use to trace the call.

"My apologies good sir, I need to cover my tracks. But thank you for allowing me to borrow your device. You have done a great service to the new order."

With that, the man in white left the alleyway and went into the street towards the train station, leaving behind only the person he had spoken too...the poor man who's neck he'd snapped to borrow his mobile from...

...

...

...

* * *

"How could you?! How could you lie to me?!"

Hanami was furious. All this time, **all this time** , he'd kept this hidden from her, from **everyone!** And now, only **now** did he find it the right time to reveal this unbelievable truth!

"Hanami, I'm—"

 **"DON'T!"** Hanami's fury was enough to make even a former kage like Kakashi quake in his boots. "Don't you dare! You've been hiding this from me for **fifteen years! FIFTEEN YEARS!** And you never told me?!"

Kakashi paused before speaking. "I couldn't."

 **"WHY?!"**

"It was labeled top secret by the Third Hokage. We both vowed never to say anything, only let the future play out as it wanted to. If I had said anything, it could have changed the future so much that _neither_ of those boys had been born."

Hanami folded her arms. "Top secret? You never told my parents that you'd met their own future son, just because you weren't _allowed_ to?"

"Hai."

She narrowed her eyes. "Just like you couldn't tell him about grandpa either?"

Kakashi clenched his fist. "That was entirely different. That was to protect your father's life. _This_ was to protect _their_ lives. And I had know way of knowing if they would ever make if back to the future or not. They just disappeared the next day and I never say either of them again until the day your brother was born. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up if they never made it back again."

The pinkette paused. She could feel a gigantic headache coming on from all of the insanity that she'd been bombarded with in the last few hours, no, the last few minutes. Could it really be true? Could this really, _truly_ be him? After all this time? He looked like he hadn't aged a day... And even it if was him, what to do about the other one, this Boruto kid? She had to be sure, she had to know!

'Shina-chan...'

"Besides..."

She turned back to face her parent's old sensei, her old friend and mentor these long fifteen years. "Besides what?"

"There was one more reason why I felt I couldn't tell you before now."

She hung on his every word. "Why?"

"...Because I made them a promise."

The air became heavy, time seemed to stop cold. Hanami Uzumaki turned her back to the old master and just stared at the stone wall of the cave.

"Hanami..."

The woman practically choked out her next words. "Fifteen years...and I've lost so much. I've needed to be strong, be sure, be a leader... But now...now I feel like I'm still that weak little girl all over again."

Kakashi took a step towards her. "You are _not_ weak Hanami. You never have been."

She turned back to face him again. "I don't...I don't know what I'm supposed to do now."

The old man smiled beneath his mask and placed a hand upon her shoulder. "I do. Go to him dear. Let him back into your life. Be a guide for him as he once was for you, as you have been for _him_."

He was looking to the side when he said that, and her eyes followed. She knew what that meant, the were not alone.

Coming from out of the shadows was a teenage boy, one so young that he had never known the village before this madness had all started. He was a boy that had been forced to grow up in war and tyranny, in a world where the Konoha that she knew was a long lost memory. The boy was tall and slender in build dressed in standard shinobi attire. He was notable for his piercing green eyes and for his dark red hair.

"Hanami," he said, "is it true? It is really him?"

She paused before answering. "I think so..."

* * *

Shinachiku sat in the same spot as before, only now he was slurping down a cup of instant ramen that one of the ninja had warmed up with a fire jutsu. Apparently he had been a lot more hungry than he'd thought, judging by the rate he was devouring his soup.

"Hey! Hey!" one of the ninja said. "Take it easy there kid! You could choke on your noodles if you eat it like that."

"Gomen," he said. "I've just been through a lot lately."

"I'll bet," another one of the ninja muttered.

Suddenly, a groaning sound right next to him stopped him from eating. Shina quickly put his food down and in relief at the familiar voice.

'Bolt's awake, thank goodness. I was starting to worry about him.'

"Ugggghhh..." the younger blonde rubbed his head as he blinked a couple of times and sat up. "What the hell? Where are we?"

"Hey kid," Shina said. "Thank goodness your awake."

Boruto looked around the cave to get his bearings. He was totally confused about where he was, or about the squad of battle-worn ninja that were glaring down upon him suspiciously.

"Who are you guys?" he asked. They gave him no response. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"

"Bolt!" Shina interrupted. "It's best we don't make them made. They're suspicious enough of us as it is."

Bolt glanced at the ninja again and scoffed. "Whatever. Just tell me what's going on already so we can—"

The boy's sentence was cut off by the loud grumbling of his stomach. He blushed in embarrassment, too proud to politely ask for food. He didn't need to though, as Shina grabbed his cub of ramen and offered it to him.

"Here," he said. "You can have what's left. I'm feeling full now."

Grunting in mock indifference, he took the cup of ramen and started eating.

"I guess you must have been hungry too," Shina said, noting the speed at which his counterpart was slurping up his noodles.

"I guess," he answered. "You know, back home, my mom is the all time ramen eating champion at Ichiraku's."

"I'm not surprised," Shina said. "I've seen my Aunt Hinata eat ramen before and, well, she actually gives dad a run for his money." He then paused in awkward realization. "...I guess that's one thing they both have in common."

Bolt stopped eating, realizing what he'd unintentionally brought up. "Hey, I wasn't trying to—"

"I know, I know, it's alright man."

The young blonde went back to glancing around the cave. "So, where are we?"

"We're in some sort of cave outside of the village."

Bolt scowled in annoyance as Shina. "I can see that, genius! I meant, where specifically is this cave? And who are all these ninja?"

"I'm not sure, they wouldn't tell me. But I do know that these ninja are the ones who saved us from that exploding building back there."

Bolt's memory quickly came back. "Oh yeah! I remember now." But then he got another look at the ones who were watching over them. "Are we prisoners here?"

Shina sighed. "That depends on if we can convince their leader of who we really are?"

"Okay...And who's their leader?"

"Me."

The boys both turned around to where the voice came from. There was the woman with the pink hair again, She walked up the boys, who both stood up to confront her, their ramen quickly forgotten.

"Have they been any trouble?" she asked one of her men.

"No m'lady," he said.

Turning back to the boys, she said, "Leave us."

"But miss—?"

"That's an order."

Bowing, the shinobi guards left their leader be. Taking the hint from her tone, they proceeded to gather the rest of the platoon and hurried them all out of the cave, leaving the three of them alone.

There was silence for a few seconds, the woman studying the boys up as they did the same to her, particular the older boy. I was the woman who was first to speak.

"I feel I owe you an apology for earlier. I might have been bit rude last time."

Shina showed no reaction, same for the slightest hint of nervousness, as he told her, "Apology accepted."

She turned to the other boy. "I'm glad you're finally awake. You were in quite a mess when we found you."

Bolt lowered his eyes and scratched his head sheepishly. "Yeah...thanks for the save back there, whoever you are."

"I guess you boys must really not be from around here if you've never heard of me."

Shina butted in. "I know exactly who you are sis. And you know who I am, even if you won't admit it."

"WHAT?!" Bolt was shocked. "Hold on! She's you sister! But I thought she was just a little girl?!"

Neither of them paid Bolt any attention, their focus was solely on one another. It was like something out of a dream...

"Hanami..."

Knowing what Kakashi told her, looking at him now, hearing his say his name... She could help it. All these years of fighting and sternness be damned, all her emotions erupted to the surface. She couldn't help the tears from welling up.

"Onii-chan...?"

The boy smiled. "Yeah sis, it's really me."

That did it. The wall was torn down. The dam had burst. Tears flows like rivers from the woman's eyes as Hanami leapt over to the boys and brought him into a desperate, bone-crushing hug. His shirt was stained with her tears, but she didn't care. She cared about nothing else right, except finally having him home with her again.

"Shina, I've missed you so much," she sniffled out.

The boy closed his eyes, and wrapped his own arms around her. "I missed you too sis."

Not able to do anything but look upon the emotional scene in front of him, the still confused Boruto nevertheless found his own mind wandering to memories of him and his own sister. He could clearly see Himawari excitedly running to the front door when he came back home and him giving her a piggy back ride. He remembered her adorable smile, her childish innocence. He even remembered her horrifying temper on the day her Byakugan was first activated. Normally that last memory would only fill him with terror, but right now it only made him long to be reunited with her once again, with all of them...

Eventually, the reunited siblings had to, reluctantly, break apart from their hug. Hanami, her eyes still wet, smiled sweetly as she touched his face.

"You're still look like such a dork."

They both laughed at her joke, and then came together again for another hug.

"I still can't believe your here," she said. "I haven't seen you in fifteen years, and now you're back again looking exactly like I remember. It's like a dream."

"It's not a dream Hanami, I'm really—Wait!" He quickly pulled back from the hug in shock. "Did you say **fifteen years?!** "

Hanami sighed before putting her hand on her big brother's shoulder. "There's a lot we need to talk about, but first, there's someone you need to meet."

She took him by the hand and led to where she and Kakashi had spoken earlier, Bolt following close behind, the unfortunate odd man out of this family reunion.

When they got to their destination, Shina saw the red-headed teenager standing there, a boy that looked only about two years older than he currently was. The boy appeared fairly serious, but mostly shy, kind of nervous actually.

"Shinachiku," Hanami said as she pointed to the other boy. "This is Arashi Uzumaki. He's our baby brother..."

...

...

...

* * *

Sakura's touched her pregnant belly, her nerves not getting any lighter. Her son was missing, and she had no clue where he could be. Even worse, Naruto had just told her that that Boruto kid had gone missing too. Disappeared right in front of her, Kushina said.

That's where they both are heading now, back to the Uzumaki Estate. They needed to find both of the boys and they needed to find them fast.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted as they both rushed through the crowded streets of the village. "Naruto! What's going on! Where are we going!"

"We're going back home."

"Naruto! Shina's still out there! We can't just leave him!"

"We're not. But something's come up and we need to get home to learn more."

"What happened?"

He stopped, sighed, and turned around. "Sakura...Boruto's gone too."

The pinkette gasped. "You mean he ran away again?"

"No...my mom says that she was watching him and he just...disappeared."

"What?! How?!"

"I don't know...but I need to find out."

Sakura's mind started going a mile a minute again. Horrific images of her baby boy disappearing without a trace flashed before her. "Naruto! We need to get home now!"

"Agreed!"

The couple barged through the streets, and as they did so, they bumped into someone...a mysterious man in a white cloak.

"Oh! Sorry about that sir," Naruto said sheepishly as he scratched his head. "I'm afraid I we were in kind of a rush."

"No, no," the stranger said, "that's quite alright. I was just on my way somewhere myself."

"We really do apologize sir," Sakura added.

"Thank you, m'lady. You're miss Sakura Haruno Uzumaki, I presume?"

"Um, yes. And this is my husband."

Naruto stuck out his hand. "Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage."

The man in white shook his hand, and Naruto was quite surprised and the stranger's _very_ strong grim.

"I am honored to meet you sir. My name is Sugure Mashita. Perhaps you and I could get together sometime...?"

* * *

And with that, we come to the end of another chapter.

The title "Fated Meetings" proves to hold a triple meaning for both time periods that I had to carefully cut back and forth between. First and foremost, it refers to Hanami, now twenty-three years old, finally accepting that she has found her brother again for the first time in fifteen years. But on top of that is the surprise introduction of a new character that i have been teasing the eventual arrival of since the very beginning. And then, of course, the very end, the brief but important first meeting between Naruto and our main villain. Where will that lead? You'll just have to wait to find out.

Not a whole lot to say in terms of references this time, but it was a lot of fun to fully pay off Kakashi's role in the past. Indeed, if not for him, its hard to say if Hanami would ever have accepted that this boy was indeed her brother instead of some trick created by Sugure to bring her down, or something like that. You have to keep in mind, this future version of Hanami has apparently been resisting this superhuman tyrant for a long time now.

But about Kakashi, I know I am going to get some flak for him keeping the secret of Shinachiku's and Boruto's disappearance for fifteen years, but I tried to explain it as best I could. He honestly couldn't have known if the boys successfully made it to their future or not, or how far into the future they went. If they were still alive, then if he'd told anyone, even someone as obviously trustworthy as Hanami, then there was still a risk that Sugure or one of his minions would end up learning the truth too. And if that happened, who's to say they wouldn't already have a trap for the boys? Or if history would somehow have ended up going down an even worse path than it started with. Kakashi was looking at this very delicate situation with logic and patience, something that a really good leader should do. Besides, as he said, if something had gone wrong and the boys didn't successfully make it back, than he didn't want to get anyone's hopes up for a tragic letdown.

Well, I guess that's all I have to say. Not my best chapter, in my opinion, but I hope it was worth the wait. But, I do have a crazy idea I am considering for later chapters, but I am not sure if is fitting for this story, or if it should be spun off into an accompanying side story. If you would like to know more, let me know in the PM section. But please remember that what I will disclose is potentially heavy spoilers, so I kindly request your silence on the message boards and in the review section.

Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	20. Chapter 20--Welcome to the Rebellion

Hey everybody, thesaiyanjedi her with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

Yes, yes, I realize that it has been a while since I've updated, but it was due to a mixture of different things, ranging from a busy work schedule, to distractions in my personal life, to straight up writer's block. I apologize for making you wait so long, and I really hope all of you enjoy the chapter.

With that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 20: Welcome to the Rebellion**

"Naruto Uzumaki, the Seventh Hokage."

The man in white shook his hand, and Naruto was quite surprised and the stranger's _very_ strong grip.

"I am honored to meet you sir. My name is Sugure Mashita. Perhaps you and I could get together sometime...?"

There was something disturbing about this man, Naruto could sense it. That grip was so tight, and there was an air of...well, he didn't know what it was, but he knew that he didn't like it.

"Umm...thank you sir," Naruto said as he broke the hand shake. "But I'm afraid my wife and I are in a hurry right now."

"I understand. I have my own business to attend to as well." The man in white bowed in respect, keeping his head a low as possible meaning that neither of them were able to see beneath his hood. "Lord Hokage. Lady Sakura. Farewell."

The two of them bowed back, awkwardly, and parted ways, the stranger heading their opposite direction...Even so, each of them couldn't shake this creepy vibe that someone was looking behind them.

It was Sakura who dared to turn back. What she saw was that it was, indeed, the man in white. But when she turned back, she thought she saw a quick glimpse under the hood. It was so quick and so fleeting that she doubted she even saw anything at all. Still, what she thought she saw, it seemed very familiar...disturbingly familiar.

"Sakura?"

Naruto's voice brought her back to attention. "Huh? Oh sorry, I just thought...Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Did that guy seem...strange to you?"

"Oh heck yeah, gave me the creeps just being around him."

Sakura notices that Naruto was flexing the muscles in his hand still. "What wrong?"

"That's guy's grip, it was like shaking hands with a vise. I swear if he'd squeezed any harder you might have heard bones cracking!"

"You're kidding!"

"No." Naruto looked back behind him, in the direction that the stranger had headed. His natural Hokage instincts and years of wisdom kicked in and he knew what it was had to do. 'I don't know who this guy is, but I better not take any chances.'

Taking his wife by the hand, Naruto pulled him along with him down an street and ducked with her into a nearly alleyway.

"Naruto!" Sakura demanded. "What are you doing!"

"I've got a bad feeling about that guy, and I'm not taking any chances." He made an all too familiar hand sign. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

In a puff of smoke, an identical clone of Naruto appeared.

"Go get yourself a disguise and follow that man in white. Learn everything you can about him."

The clone nodded and left with ninja stealth.

"There," Naruto said. "While he's busy with that, we can get back home and talk to mom and dad about Boruto."

"Naruto," Sakura asked, "you don't...you don't really think that man in white knows anything about where Shinachiku is, do you."

The orange Hokage paused be before answering. "I don't know honey, I just don't know..."

...

...

...

* * *

"My...my brother...?"

Shinachiku was in a trance. It was like all of this was some sort of surreal dream, some sick, twisted illusion from which he was powerless to escape. Even knowing what little he did now, he still, almost, did not want to believe that all of this was really true.

He couldn't tell, but he could sense that the boy, Arashi as his sister called him, appeared just a nervous and confused as he himself was...probably more so.

"Are you," the by said, "are you really my big brother?"

Shina swallowed a lump in his throat. "I...I think so."

"But you look even younger than me?"

"Well...that's a long story."

The redhead noticed another young blonde standing behind them. "Who is that?"

Shina looked behind him and noticed Bolt was there. "Umm...that's an even longer story."

Arashi was understandably confused, but after having his innocent wave greeted with another, he turned his attention back to the other blonde. "Is he my brother too?"

"Aaaaaahhhh..." Shina paused and tired to come up with the best answer to that very awkward question. The best he could come up with was "...Sort of."

Arashi then walked away from Shina and moved towards the other blonde. Said blonde seemed a bit deterred at first, before the redhead held out his hand. "Hello, I'm Arashi."

Bolt glanced at the hand and hesitated for a moment, before shaking it awkwardly. "Boruto."

"Hey," Shina said, "I hate to cut this short, but Bolt and I are still confused about all that's going on."

Hanami glanced down and took a long, deep breath. "You're right. You must have a lot of questions, and you deserve answers. Come with me, both of you, we have a lot to talk about."

...

...

...

* * *

The door to the Uzumaki Estate opened and in came Naruto and Sakura. Kushina quickly threw her arms around her son in a stake of panic.

"Oh Naruto! I'm so sorry! It was horrible! I was just talking to that boy and the next minute—!"

"Mom! Mom! Calm down!" Naruto wrapped his arms around his mother to calm her down. "Now listen to me: I need you to try to keep it together and tell me exactly what happened."

Kushina wiped her eyes and took a deep breath. "Alright. I was just talking to the boy about how he didn't ruin anything by going looking for his mother, and then your father and I saw his just disappear."

Naruto looked suspicious. "That's it?"

"Yes."

Minato tried to dissuade the situation. "Let's not get too carried away here. We have no idea what this could mean. Who knows? Perhaps Boruto just went back to whatever world he originally came from?"

Naruto looked at his wife, who lowered her head in shame.

"Naruto?" Kushina asked.

"Mom...there's something we have to tell you..."

...

...

...

* * *

Hanami Uzumaki sat in a circle with both of her brothers, plus her half-brother from another universe, making sure the three of them were comfortable for the long talk they were about to have. One of Hanami's lieutenants brought along four cups of hot tea, one for his captain, the others for each of the boys.

"That'll be all," she excused the lieutenant. "So, where did you want to start?"

"Where's mom and dad?" Shinachiku asked directly.

Hanami hung her head. "They're gone."

Both Shina and Bolt could feel the blood run cold. "Gone?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Because of Sugure."

Boruto waved his hands in the air. "Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! "Who the heck is this Sugure guy anyway?"

Arashi looked at the blonde like he was crazy. "You're joking, right?"

"Arashi!" Hanami snapped. The youngest Uzumaki backed off. "You boys really know nothing about Sugure?"

"I only know as much as Mitsuki told me," Shina explained. "He said he was some kind of genetic clone made from dad and Uncle Sasuke's DNA."

"Did he tell you who created him?"

Shina nodded. "Orochimaru."

"That's right. Sugure's a madman, he's everything we've been fighting against for _fifteen_ years, every since you two disappeared."

"So he's really strong?" Bolt questioned.

The pinkette took a sip of her tea, "Strong doesn't even begin to describe it. It doesn't matter what we throw at him, or how hard we strike him, or what kind of jutsu we use on him. It's like there's something inside that man that just _refuses_ to allow death, no matter what."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He's a superhuman in every sense. One of our rogue science ninja theorizes that his heart value action is twice the power of yours or mine. His lung efficiency, 50 percent better. He could lift us both with one arm if he ever cornered us. But that's not the worst part."

"What is the worst part?" Bolt asked.

Hanami took another sip of her tea. "The worst part is that his brain matches his body."

Shina understood. "So he's a genius?"

"A _super_ genius. He's a tactician rivaling even the best of the kages and the feudal lords. He and his followers are the most powerful shinobi this world nave ever seen. None of us, Leaf ninja, Sand ninja, Cloud, Stone, Mist, not even Taka were a match for them!"

"What kind of jutsu does he know?" Bolt asked.

"Everything that dad and Uncle Sasuke both knew at their peak. He has all of their special attributes too, if you know what I mean."

Shinachiku was able to read between the lines. "Hold on! You're telling me that he has the Sharingan _and_ he can use Kurama's chakra?!"

"Exactly."

Silence hung in the air as the boys processed the prospect of the nightmarish foe they were up against. For Shina, this Sugure sounded even more dangerous than Uragi was, and that guy turned himself into a giant, chakra gem-enhanced demigod!

That train of thought was cut short however when Shina remembered what his sister just said. "Wait, you mean there's more ninja like him. How many?"

"When Sugure first appeared he had six followers, all of them genetic monstrosities made by Orochimaru out of the DNA of many of our closest friends. You knew that Sugure dresses all in white, yes?" Shina nodded, while Bolt was just trying to keep up with all the craziness that was being said. "Well, all of his followers each wears a different color, which they also use as a codename."

Bolt folded his arms. "That sounds pretty lame if you ask me."

"She didn't," Arashi quipped.

"Hey!"

" _Anyway_ ," the pinkette continued on. "His second in command is Geki, codename Red. He's strong and loyal, with this warped sense of justice. He's got a twin brother named Burai, codename Green. Guy's just a s strong, but he's got this short temper that makes him extra dangerous. Then there's Goushi, codename Black, their strategist, he's the calm and collected one. Dan, codename Blue, is the Courageous and arrogant one. Then there's Mei, codename Pink, the only female in Sugure's inner circle. She my look cute, but behind that she's just a stone cold bitch that hates to loose! Lastly, there's Boi, codename Yellow. He's the youngest, which might explain why he seems to be the most curious and energetic of all of them. Each of them is as strong and almost as smart as Sugure himself is, and when he came to power, he entrusted each of them to help in ruling a section of the former Allied Shinobi Forces, with himself taking up fortress here in Konoha, the greatest shinobi village of them all."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! Thanks for the speech, Mrs. Exposition, but I think these boys would much rather see something actually happen instead of just listening to you talk all day. I know I am,"

That was not either of the boys talking. No, when they turned to look behind them, they were confronted with a familiar face...err, mask.

"Randamu?!"

"The one and only. Funny how we keep running into each other like this, ain't it?" The Missing-Nin With the Mouth was now in the exact same attire that they had always seen him in, except now it was color in grays ad blacks, almost as though the outfit has been permanently charred in some sort of blazing wave of fire and ash.

Bolt was at a loss for words. "I cant believe you're still here."

Shina merely hung his head in frustration. "At this point, I'd have been stunned if he _wasn't_ somehow here."

"See? _See?_ You're learning kid."

"Yeah. I've learned that it's useless to try and make sense of anything about you!"

 _"Exactly!"_

"What are you doing here Randamu?" Hanami demanded.

"Making my cameo for the chapter, what else? I'm _telling_ you boys, you missed one hell of a takeover. No joke, you two missed out on a war of imperial proportions."

Bolt was perplexed. "What do you mean _imperial_?"

"What I mean is world takeover. Total subjugation. Superhuman power conflict, a simultaneous genocide _and_ subjugation of mortal man. Fire and murder on the streets and from the skies! Rivers and seas turned red with blood! Fifteen years of darkness! Misery! War! Death! Selective breeding! DOGS AND CATS LIVING TOGETHER! **MASS HYSTERIA!** "

"ENOUGH!" Bolt yelled. "I get it, alright!"

"Wait!" Shina spoke up. "If you're here, then who else is here? Where's the rest of my team?"

Randamu and Hanami shared a nervous glance before the boy's sister gave him an answer. "Shina, brother, about your team, there's something you really need to know...

...

...

...

* * *

Kushina was sitting at the dining room table. She was crying uncontrollably now as the worst possible news she could have ever heard was just laid out for her.

"I'm sorry mom..."

"Why are you just standing here?! My grandson is missing and we need to find him now!"

"Kushina!"

"Minato! Shina's missing! We have to—!"

"I know he's missing! But yelling at each other isn't going to change anything! What we need to do is calm down and think things through rationally like grown adults!"

Minato was right, they all knew it. How could they be expected to find their missing child if they were panicking like children themselves?

"Now, son," the elder blonde asked, "do we have any leads where Shinachiku was at the same time Boruto vanished? Was anyone with him?"

"No that we know of," the younger blonde responded. "Last we heard he was on a date with Sarada, but over an hour ago she lost him and she says she can't remember anything from that. Nor can the other two members of their team."

Kushina, calmed down from her outburst (but still very worried), appeared understandably confused. "What do you mean she doesn't remember?"

"Exactly what we said," Sakura explained. "Sarada, Mitsuki and Muon all claim they have no memory from the last hour. But they assured us that they will give us a call the minute they hear anything."

Minato was listening intently to this new development, but he found his attention wavering as his highly keen and respected mind had a horrific realization.

"Dad?"

"W-What?"

Naruto examined his father quizzically. "Are you okay? You seemed kind of out of it for a second there."

"Naruto...I think Sarada and her friends might know what's become of Shinachiku after all, but they are no longer aware of it."

"What?" Sakura asked in shock. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying that, theoretically, if all three of them say they all are suffering from a memory loss of the same time period that my grandson has disappeared in, then one possible conclusion is that whomever is responsible had trapped them in a memory erasing seal."

"WHAT?!" All three of them exclaimed in shock.

"As I said, it's just a theory."

"So...what?" Naruto asked, trying to piece this together. "You mean like of of Ino's clan's techniques did this?"

"No, no, the Yamanaka clan can swap and read minds, but they can't erase them...so far as I know."

"Then how?" Kushina asked.

The elder blonde sighed. "There is a rare, supplementary-class sealing technique in which the person caught within range of it will loose certain memories that the caster would wish to be erased."

"And who would know how to perform such a technique?" asked Sakura.

Minato sighed. "...I would."

"What?" Kushina spoke in surprise. "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

"You never asked and it was never relevant conversation. Besides, I've rarely ever had to use it in my entire ninja career. Tampering with human memory is not a skill that should be used recklessly."

Naruto folded his arms. "Tell that to the bastard who did this to the kids."

Sakura waved her arms to cut eh conversation off. "Hold on! Minato, if we brought the kids here to you, could you remove the seal and restore the kids memories back again?"

Minato paused and thought for a moment. "Hmm...possibly. I've never tried that before, if fact I'm not sure anyone has."

Naruto shook his head. 'It doesn't matter. We need to follow every lead we have. Sakura, call Sarada and tell her and the boys to come here as quick as they can. And then call your parents and let them know your coming to pick up Hanami. I know I'll feel much better knowing she's back home where the four of us can keep an eye on her."

"Right!"

As Sakura went to use the house phone to do as she was told, Naruto suddenly began walking out of the living room across the entrance hall into the parlor room.

"Where are you going?" Kushina asked.

"I need to make a call of my own. I won't take long."

Leaving the others for a moment, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed the number, hearing a familiar voice within seconds.

"Yeah?"

"Sasuke, it's me."

"I know who it is. What do you want dobe?"

"I have a mission for you. I want you to rush over to the train station right now and meet up with a shadow clone I have tracking a mysterious character."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Sasuke, it's important."

He could hear the Uchiha groaning in irritation on the other end of the line. "You'd better not be a waste of my time with this."

"It's not, this is an A-ranked mission, highly sensitive. Now get going, that's an order."

"Can I at least know what this damned mission is first?"

"Sasuke...Shinachiku's missing."

"..."

"Sasuke?"

"What the hell do you mean my godson is missing?"

"Exactly what I said. Nobody can find him, and the only lead I have is heading towards the train station out to the village. I've got a clone trailing him, but I want you there for extra backup in case something goes wrong. My clone will fill you in on your target when you meet him. Do I make myself clear?"

"...Yeah, sure. I'll be down there ASAP."

The line went dead on the other end, the Uchiha not bothering to say goodbye before hanging up. Naruto hung up his own phone before turning around to join hiss family. But when he did, he was surprised to see Sakura standing right there.

"I thought I told you—?"

"Already done. Sarada and the others are on their way, and I about to go to mom and dad's to get Hanami. What were you talking to Sasuke for?"

"Just in case things go south with that lead."

"You really think the guy's that dangerous?"

Naruto looked at his hand, remembering the intense grip the man in white had demonstrated before and the creepy vibe he got off of him. "Better save than sorry."

Sakura pondered for a moment before continuing. "Did you...did you tell him about his daughter's memory?"

"...No."

"What? Why not?"

"It would have compromised Sasuke's mission."

"Naruto! It's your best friend's daughter! You can't just—"

"Didn't you say you were leaving to go pick up our daughter?"

The pinkette was taken aback by the coldness in her husband's voice. Scowling, she nodded. "Yeah, I was just leaving."

As she left the room and shut the front door a bit louder than she probably meant to, Naruto was left alone in the parlor room with his head in his hand. There was a lonely bar in the room, and be damned if it was the right time or not, he needed a drink.

As he poured himself a glass of sake and drowned it in a single gulp, he could only bring himself to think the same thing his been thinking obsessively for the last hour: 'Shina, where are you son?'

* * *

Sasuke was already at the train station, making his way through the mob of people trying to board their ride out of the village. He was wearing a simple but effective disguise of a dark cloak and hood to keep a low profile, given that this was a tracking mission. Currently, he was on the search for Naruto's shadow clone, but there didn't seem to be any sign of that utterly inconspicuous tuft of bright blonde hair anywhere to be found.

And then he felt a tap on his shoulder, causing the Uchiha to instinctively reach form is kanto as he turned, until he saw who it was, of course.

"Oh, it's you."

The shadow clone frowned in annoyance. "Great to see you too duck butt. What the heck are you doing here?"

"You tell me. Your creator just told me that my godson was missing and that whoever we're following might know something about it."

"Yeah, we're looking for a guy in a white robe. He says his name's Sugure Mashita."

"Never heard of him."

"Me neither, but the boss just wants to be sure."

Sasuke groaned. "This better not be a wild goose chase."

"Hey!" the clone pointed. "There he is now."

They looked and saw the man in white boarding the train out of the village. They knew they didn't have much time so, memorizing which car they saw him boarding, they both rushed to buy their tickets and got in line to board the train. Once they were inside, they both took their seats that offered a clear, but not conspicuous, view of where their target was sitting.

With the sound of the whistle, the train finally started moving, and the two men began their long mission...

...Of course, little did they know that the man in white was making eye contact under the shade of his hood, and he was smiling to himself...

...

...

...

* * *

Shinachiku felt like his very soul had left his body. His blood ran icy cold and the complexion of his skin turned whiter than Inojin's in winter. Out of everything that he'd been told, everything he'd experienced so far, this...this was be far the worst, most horrific news he could have imagined.

"No..."

Seeing her brother's anguish made Hanami's own heart sink. "I'm sorry Shina...they're all gone."

She had spent the last few minutes explaining to him that all of his friends, the team under his command, the team that he had entrusted to hold the fort while he was away back in Konhoa...all of them had been brutally, savagely, horridly murdered, betrayed by one of their own.

Shina's fist clenched in anger, the sound of bone crunching audible to those with sharp ears. Although, Shina himself could hear none of it. No, all his mind could focus on was the name of the teammate that had betrayed him: 'Jōkå...'

"Where is he?"

"What?"

"Jōkå. Where is that two-faced Taka spy now?"

Hanami was worried. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'm going to kill him! That's why!"

The rebellion leader held up her hand in protest. "I'm sorry, but you can't."

"Why not?!"

"Because he's already dead."

Shina was taken aback. "Say what?!"

"After he was exposed and murdered your team, he made his way to Konoha to find you and claim one of the chakra gems form you. Obviously, his plan was to kill you and turn it over to Taka."

Shina felt along inside his pocket. Funny, with everything that has happened he had almost forgotten he still had that thing on him. Heck, if not for the gem, then Boruto would never have ended up here and probably none of this craziness would ever have happened.

"So what happened to the bastard?" he asked.

" Jōkå arrived in Konoha looking for you, but he couldn't find you, like the rest of us. He tried to demand where you were, and when he couldn't find an answer, he ditched the village under cover of darkness."

Shina was starting to get a clear picture. "He left to report back to his masters."

"Undoubtedly...But..."

"But what?"

"But his body was found and identified on the beaches of the Land of Water by Mist ninja. Someone, apparently, had stabbed him in the heart with a blade, crushed his throat with his bare hands, _and_ ripped his head clean off."

"Sweet Sage!" Boruto cursed.

"The creepiest part..." Hanami continued, "the Mist ninja claimed they found his head smiling ear to ear, as though he'd _laughing_ even as he was being hideously murdered."

Shinachiku was undeterred. "Let me guess: Sugure found him and killed him before he could return back to Taka."

Hanami nodded. "We believe so, him or one of his followers anyway."

"Sounds like I have at least one thing to actually _thank_ Sugure for."

Bolt, who had been forced to sit there and listen this whole time, even he could not believe what he counterpart was saying. "Shinachiku."

"What? This guy betrayed and killed my friends, my team! He'd been a soy working for our sworn enemy this entire time. If Sugure did kill him, then he did of all a favor."

"You don't mean that."

"What if I do? Shikadai, Inojin, Chōchō, they weren't _your_ friends Bolt!"

Bolt glared at eh elder blonde in offence. "Yes, they were."

That dose of perspective snapped Shina out of his bloodlust and back to reality. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean—"

"It's okay, I get it." Bolt turned his head away and seemed to be in thought. "Look, it doesn't matter what happened already. What matters is what we're going to do about it now."

"Boruto's right," Hanami agreed. "I know this must be a lot to take in, maybe too much. But we have been fighting Sugure for fifteen years now as he climbed his way to power over the entire ninja world. It have been long, and it has been hard. We've lost many good friends along the way. But in time like these I remember something Kakashi-sensei used to tell me about dad: that no matter how bleak it got, he always had hope. Hope is what has kept so many of us alive for so long. But that hope has been dwindling..."

The pinkette paused before smiling. "But now you two are here And I know that means something I think with the both of you back, the tides could turn for us. I believe that together we can avenge mom and dad, and everyone else, and we can overthrow Sugure and bring freedom back to this world."

The woman stood up before she continued speaking. "Boys, I can't force you to do anything you don't want to, especially after everything you must have been through. But it would be my honor to have you both at our side."

She walked over to her long lost big brother and held out her hand. "Brother, will you join us?"

Shinachiku only hesitated for a moment, taking in everything that was happening. But that hesitation did not last long as he smiled, stood up and took his sister's hand. "Sign me up sis."

Hanami brought her brother into another hug. "Welcome to the rebellion Shina."

Breaking the hug, they each turned to Boruto, who seemed much more unsure about all of this.

"Bolt?" Shina asked. "What about you?"

The younger blonde paused before speaking. "None of this is what I wanted."

Hanami tried to reassure him. "I know that, but—"

"But, if defeating this Sugure guy is going to help me finally get back home where I belong...then fine, count me in."

There was silence after that. None of them said anything. Until, at last, Boruto decided to address a glaring elephant in the room.

"So," the younger blonde said, "who else besides us is in this rebellion anyway?"

For once Randamu, who had remained sitting there not saying anything this entire time (very unlike himself), turned to his leader and said "Show them."

Hanami took a step back and said to them "Come with me."

The boys followed her through the cave, passed some of the less assuming Leaf ninja. Boruto once almost slipped on the wet stone of the cave. They trekked until the came to a fissure within the cave. Taking Hanami's cue, they both went inside, Shinachiku first, Boruto second.

What they found on the inside of the cave was a series of faces. Several of them were familiar, but all of them were either scarred, or bruised, or looked like they had seen better days. For instance, there was a lean-built man with straight white hair with a light-blue tint that had grown down passed his shoulders. He also had almond shaped purple eyes, and pointed teeth, and was dressed in a sleeveless, dirty purple shirt with blue pants, sandals and a belt around his waist with water bottles attached to it. He also wears another belt strapped to his chest with which he carried a giant sword.

There was also a tall and slender woman with long, dark-brown hair that she wore in short bangs in the front of her face reaching her chin to frame her face with the rest of her hair, which she kept in a ponytail that reached her shins. The woman was dressed in dirty, Leaf ninja vest over a yellow kimono blouse. But her most captivating feature of all were her large, white eyes with a hint of lilac to them.

In he back there a man in mid to late thirties, roughly, with spiky black hair and dark-colored eyes. He had a small white rope tied around his head which was tied on the right side of his head. He wore a black T-shirt that had a white outline and a white pair of pants. He also had scars on his arms. It was clear from his attire that this man was no shinobi, but the muscles that defined his arms and lags showed that he was clearly someone used to doing physical labor.

Conversing with him was a very young boy there two, a teenager it appeared, who was bespectacled with dark eyes and black chin-length hair. He wears dressed in a blue suit with white trimmings, black pants and sandals. He also wore a light blue scarf around his neck.

Near the front of the group was a woman with long a shaggy black hair with red irises and a extra ring around the pupil. She was dressed in a standard Konoha uniform made up of a dirty black attire with a green flak jacket. She proudly wore a black Konoha forehead protector around her head.

Near the center of the group was a middle aged man, and this person was perhaps the most curious of all those within the cave. Or at least, he was certainly the one who commanded the most attention. He was dark skinned and with a muscular build, and he had long blonde hair with a goatee, and he had a prominent brow. On his right shoulder was a tattoo of the kanji for "iron", and on his left cheek was a tattoo of a bull's horn. The man was dressed in a long, dark, sleeveless vest that left his abdomen exposed along with baggy white pants held up by a cord and standard shinobi sandals. His eyes were concealed by oval shaped sunglasses.

But it wasn't any of these faces that held Shinachiku's interest. No, his eyes widened in horror at the face of one person in particular. It was an old man with black hair that was dressed in a pair of simple black pants and a untucked red shirt. His entire body was burnt, like he had survived being consumed in a vortex of flame. The old man seemed fairly weak, all things considered, he even appeared struggling to breathe.

It was this old man that was the first to great the young Uzumaki. "Hello Shinachiku, it have been a long time."

Alas, as polite as the old man's tone was, there was no holding back the blonde's blinding anger. Charging at the old man, fist reared back, he screamed his name. **"URAGI!"**

* * *

Uh oh! He's baaaaaaaaaack!

Seriously though, while most of this chapter was tricky for me to plot out, particularly all the exposition stuff, this was an ending I had pretty much figured out. Form early on, I knew that at some point that I wanted to bring Uragi back, and I wanted to put him in the ironic position where he and Shinachiku are (at least seemingly) on the same side.

For those of you who do not know who this character is Uragi was the main villain of one of my previous fanfics, "Shinachiku's First Adventure", to which this story is a direct sequel. If you have never read that story, I encourage you to please do so. It is something I am very proud of and it would mean an awful lot to me.

Also, yes, Randamu has survived into this future timeline too But, seriously, you all saw that coming, didn't you?

Incidentally, his quip about him stopping by to make a cameo was taking directly from, of all things, the "Futurama" video game. The main trio are in the middle of their adventure when, out of nowhere, Dr. Zoidberg show up. When Leela asks what he's doing there, Zoidberg literally says he's making a cameo...before he actually gets a playable level all to himself, but I digress.

But no, you readers were much more likely distracted by his "Ghostbusters" reference. Not much explanation here, its just an iconic line that I threw in for what I thought would be a good laugh.

As for the rest of Hanami rebellion, I intentionally left their identities only as physical descriptions so that you could hopefully figure out for yourself who was who. I don't think its terribly hard, but feel free to leave a comment in the review section. Also, this is not necessary all the characters we will see, but it was enough to give you an appetizing taste of where the good guys are in this dark future ruled by Sugure.

In speaking of whom, much of Hanami's early description of him is based on Bones's initial assessment of Khan in the classic Star Trek episode "Space Seed." Khan was one of my original inspirations for Sugure's character, so this seemed to fit really well.

...And yeah, you want to know more about what happened to Naruto and Sakura in this future, don't you. Well, I can't really say. I left it intentionally vague so that Shinachiku gets some sort of answer to what would be his obvious first question, but not enough to give away the full history. I will say that I do you have an idea in mind of where their story could go, but I don't dare give that away here! You're just going to have to continue reading to find out!

I think that's all I have to say for this one. Thank you all for reading, and I look forward to seeing all back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	21. Chapter 21--The Enemy of My Enemy

Hey everybody, thesiayanjedi here, back at last with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I know, I know. It have been over two months since my last update. I am so sorry about that, but after Thanksgiving, things have been a bit... err, complicated in my life. First of all, my job was going through it's peak season, leaving me very busy to help keep up with demand for the holiday season. That. in turn, has left me very exhausted and sapped of a lot of energy to write. More importantly, there has been an unexpected development within my family (the details of which I will not disclose) that has cause a lot of rearranging of my time and priorities. Things are starting to clear out by now, but there are still more things that need to be done. That's the unfortunate truth about non-career writing, at the end of the day this is a hobby for most of us, and sometimes real life just gets in the way of that.

Because of this, I cannot make any promises at this time when the next chapter will be finished, but I do feel very bad that I have had to keep all of you waiting this long, especially after the cliffhanger I left on on last time. Thank you all, once again, for your patience, and I really do hope you enjoy.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 21: The Enemy of My Enemy...**

 **"URAGI!"**

Shinachiku charged at the old man, fist reared back. The boy who was so often the face of rationality and sensibility had instead succumb to raw anger. But how could he not? Standing right there was the face o evil itself! The man who nearly destroyed his village and his entire family. The traitor who introduced everyone to the menace known as Taka.

And there he was, the weak, burned old man who should be spending the rest of his retched life rotting in the deepest, darkest jail cell in Konoha, was instead right there in his sister's base.

But it had been a year since that day, and Shina was not the same person he once was. He was much stronger.

One punch. That all it would take. Just one punch...

...But that punch never came. Instead, the boy felt something hitting him hard in the gut And then a rapid succession of blows coming at him from all sides, before he even had time to recover from the first blow.

Shina could feel himself getting dizzy. He even coughed up some blood all over his shirt. He quickly hit the stone floor of the cave, seeing feet approach him as blackness consumed his vision...

...

...

...

"Ugh..."

Shinachiku woke up with a huge headache. After adjusting his eyes, he realized that he was lying down on the ground, covered in a wool blanket. He was also in front of a warm fire.

"Shina?"

Turning his head, he saw Hanami there, looming over him, ironically enough, like an overprotective big sister. She seemed kind of exhausted, like she'd been awake a bit too long. He figured he probably had something to do with that.

"Sis? Wha-What's going on?"

"Well, well, look who finally woke up."

Shina didn't need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to. "How long have you been there?"

Boruto smirked. "Long enough to enjoy seeing you be taking down for acting reckless for a chance. I gotta admit, it felt kinda good."

The elder blonde rolled his eyes in annoyance, not saying anything since, as annoying as it was, the kid had a point...But that was when Shina's memories came back to him.

"Uragi! Where is he?! Where is that bastard! I'm gonna—!"

"SHINA! STOP!"

The boy was taken aback by the force of his sister's voice. She really wasn't the sweet, innocent little girl that he'd used to protect just a few days ago. With that temper of here's, she actually reminded him a lot of his mother...something that sent a shiver down his spine.

For his own part, Bolt was just as freaked out. Her yell reminded him of how scary his own mother could be. Or, of that one time he broke one of Himawari's favorite toys, causing her...well, he preferred not to remember it.

Hanami sighed. "Listen big brother, I know this must be a shock to you, but believe me when I tell you, Uragi is one of us now."

"What?!" Shina was shocked. "Sis! Don't you realize what you're saying?! Don't you remember what this did to our village?! To our family?! To _you?!_ "

"Of course I remember! I don't need you to remind me what Taka did to me back then. I don't need you to tell me all the terrible things he did."

"Then _why?_ "

The pinkette paused before speaking. "Because in times of war, we need men like him."

Bolt raised his hand. "Hey, umm, can the new kid in the room get crash course on who the heck that old man with the burn scars is and why Shinachiku hates him so much?"

Shina himself did the talking. "His name is Uragi Rimonō. He's a former elder of the Hidden Leaf Village and a traitor."

"Never heard of him."

Shina quickly pieced together what that meant. 'Of course. Boruto hasn't had to deal with Taka in his universe, so that probably means that Uragi never returned to the village in his world, if he even exists at all...Good for him.'

"Well anyway," he continued, "he left the village before Orochimaru's attack that led to the Third Hokage being killed. While he was out there he got these crazed delusions that the world was a cold, ruthless place that needed to be saved, but he didn't think that dad or anyone else was cut out to be the one to fix it, especially after the war. So he chose to join a secret society called Taka."

"Oh yeah! Those evil terrorist guys you told me you and your team were trying to stop."

"That's right. A year later he returned to Konoha and climbed to ranks until he took Danzo's place on the Council. As dad became Hokage, Uragi coerced many of the village's ninja to join Taka's cause as double agents, just like the other leaders planted in the other four villages did, and he used some of the Chakra Gems to do it."

"So what happened?"

This time Hanami spoke. "About a year ago, my brother went with our Uncle Sasuke on a mission to locate one of the chakra gems. Meanwhile, Uragi began a coup d'état to assume control. Our parents escaped an assassination attempt but were forced to flee the villages as fugitives. Things got...err, complicated from there, but long story short: my brother and his friends snuck back into the villages after our parents were captured, exposed Taka, and we defeated him in battle after he used the chakra gems to become a giant red energy monster."

"A _what?!_ "

Shina shook his head. "Long story, you had to be there."

"So what happened after you stopped him?"

"Uragi was arrested for his crimes and sentenced to life in prison."

"Then why put him on your team?"

Hanami paused again. How could she possibly explain all of this? What would they think? What would they say? How could she justify the compromises she's had to make to defeat a monster by joining forces with another monster?

"Because—"

"Because the enemy of my enemy is my friend. That what you were going to tell them, wasn't it, Hanami dear?"

Speak of the devil. The old man himself was standing right behind them. They didn't even know how long he'd been there, but likely long enough to hear most, if not everything, the three Uzumakis had said about him.

"Uragi," Shina grumbled under his breath.

"It's good to see you again Shinachiku. A pity it couldn't have been under better circumstances."

The old man took a seat next to Hanami, the pinkette frowning at the clear and visible disappointment on her brother's face. Boruto, meanwhile, was just trying to keep up with what the heck was going on.

"I don't believe we've met. Boruto was it?"

The younger blonde awkwardly waved his hand in acknowledgement. "Y-Yeah, that's me. ...So, umm, Shinachiku tells me you're a bad guy."

The old man smirked. "Is that what he said?"

"He also says you one turned into some kind of giant red energy monster, or something?"

"Something like that."

Bolt waved his finger around in front of him to point all over the old man's body. "It that the reason for all the, y'know...? "

"Oh the burn marks? No, actually Shinachiku here did that with his Scorching Rasenshuriken."

Boruto all of a sudden got a little creeped out at his dimensional counterpart. "Okaaaayyyy...So why—?"

"Why are you here?"

It was Shinachiku who asked that question, making no attempt to hide his condescending tone. The old man merely shook his head and sighed.

"I knew that this wasn't going to be easy. Like I told you, the enemy—"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard what you said, but what did you mean by it? What do you have to do with Sugure?"

"Nothing. Not directly anyway. But the superman and I have an old score to settle."

"What are you talking about?"

Pausing only for a moment, the old man took a deep breath and began telling his story. "It would seem that before the battle for Konoha happened and you forced us to come out of the shadows boy, that Taka had run afoul of..." His eyes darted to the younger blonde for a split second before continuing. "...The Snake. Apparently the Snake saw us as some sort of plague to world stability that needed to be hunted down and done away with one by one, like a bunch of weeds being plucked out of a garden."

Shina noticed that look he gave Bolt and played along for his sake. "I guess the Snake wasn't completely insane after all."

"Shina!"

"It's alright Hanami," the old man raised his hand up to stop her. "Your brother's opinion is to be expected."

Feeling the tension in the air, Boruto tried to keep the conversation going. "So, umm, you said that your Taka group got into some kind of fight with...Wait! Who's this 'Snake' guy you keep talking about?"

Shina suddenly panicked. "Ah! Nobody important. Just an old enemy of the village that we'd thought we'd gotten rid of a long time ago."

"So, what, is he like a literal snake?"

"...Kind of." Trying to get off the subject, he turned his attention back to the Uragi. "Anyway, are you saying what I think you're saying?"

"That's right. The Snake created Sugure and his followers to serve two purposes. For one, he wanted to continue his research to try and create the perfect life form, a creature that embodied human perfection and which could master as many jutsu as possible."

"And he chose mine and Sarada's dads to do it?"

"Their DNA, yes."

"How did he get it?"

"Blood samples taken from the Valley of the End after the war."

"So what then, the Snake had some grudge against Taka so he made a superhuman to take them out?"

"That was the plan. But it seems that for all of his intellect, the Snake overlooked one important thing: superior ability breeds superior ambition."

Shina pondered the old man's words and the rest of the story clicked together. "Alright, I get the picture. But what does that have to do with you?"

Hanami continued the story for him. "We were desperate. Our numbers were few and our resources were running dry. Sugure and his forces were too much. We needed as many shinobi as we could get. So, Kakashi, myself and others came to a reluctant decision."

"What decision?" Boruto questioned intently.

"Uragi was one of the last remaining Taka leaders that was left alive. We needed the kind of resources that Taka possessed and the loyalty of the valuable shinobi still in jail after dad stripped them of rank for treason."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Bolt waved his hands in the air. "You mean you needed the help of ninja that betrayed the village?!"

"We had no choice!" Hanami shouted. "We needed more men. And they wouldn't listen to anyone except a Taka leader. We needed Uragi on our side."

"At what cost?" Shina asked bluntly, glaring holes into the old man's head. "What's in it for you?"

Uragi smiled. "In exchange for my help, I would be released from prison with full pardon and once Sugure's regime is overthrown, Taka would be officially exonerated by all five shinobi nations, plus granted our own nation to found and develop with our beliefs under full diplomatic immunity...with myself as it's leader."

"WHAT?!" Shina was horrified beyond belief. "I can't believe this! Hanami! Taka could destroy everything we've built! Everything we love. And now you want to give them their own land to rule and fester?! To grow and challenge us all over again, just like the Sound Village did?!"

"Settle down brother!" Hanami shouted. "Look, I'm not proud of it either, but the fact is that it was a price that had to be paid. We were barely holding on as we were. The threat of what might come tomorrow just didn't matter compared to the threat we are facing today."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that as evil as Taka is, that Sugure is much, much worse! And we would much rather co-exist with a country ruled by Taka than to spend the rest of our lives fighting to get away from that monster!"

Never before had the pinkette seen so much cold, seething anger directed at her. She could practically feel it oozing off of him. The little girl she had once been would have been terrified that her big brother was so angry with her. ...But she wasn't that hapless little girl anymore. She was Hanami Uzumaki, leader of the Rebellion. She could not afford to be wrong. And if Shinachiku didn't like it, or didn't like her because of it, then so be it. That was the choice she had to make.

Still, that did not take away the sting of what he said to her next. "Mom and dad be ashamed of you."

Hanami stood there, head hung, as the boy stormed of away from the fire. Boruto continued to sit there, not sure how to act, just the awkward third wheel in this sibling squabble.

As for Uragi, he sat where he was too, staring at the fire emotionlessly, his mind drifting. 'Oh boy, the things I could tell you about your father...'

...

...

...

 _CREEK!_

 _The heavy metal door to the prison wing opened. It was the door to the deepest, darkest wing in the Konoha Strict Correctional Facility, and behind that door, in the center so the dark, wet, dirty, stinking room was a single metal cell. And within that cell resided one lonely prisoner._

 _The prisoner was truly a pathetic sight to see. His clothes were practically rags, his body covered is severe burns, his form semi-emaciated, his hair and fingernails long and gross, and his complexion virtually pale white from living for months without any trace of sunlight save for the light of the hallway that was shining in through the doorway right now._

 _Lit from the back, the person who had opened the door came up to the cell. It was the warden, the new one appointed by the Seventh Hokage after the infiltration of Konoha. The Hokage himself had personally vetted and approved him for the job, finding a virtually spotless record with no evidence of Taka affiliation whatsoever._

 _In other words, the prisoner was not, and has not, been receiving any sympathy from him._

 _"Dinner." The warden had come in holding a tray of food. Slimy gruel, rare meat, dry bread, and a bowl of rice. The warden gave the prisoner his meal...by coldly dropping it on the floor of his cell, causing the food to spill all over the dirty floor._

 _Not that it mattered. The prisoner was starving, not having a meal all day except for a few crackers and some water for breakfast. He quickly scampered across the floor and took the food in his hand and quickly began shoving it into his mouth._

 _"Look at yourself," the warden said in disgust. "You used to be a great leader, an elder of the Hidden Leaf Village. Now look what you've become, traitor! You just sit here and live in your own filth like a parasite. You're a disgrace!"_

 _The warden ended his cursing of the old man's misery by spitting right into the food that the prisoner was trying to eat. After that, he simply walked out to once again leave the old man to his own misery, shutting the door behind him._

 _...Of course, as soon as the warden was out of sight, the old man straightened his hair and clothes, sat up straight and proceeded to eat his dinner with what dignity he could muster in such a vile place._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _CREEK!_

 _Another day, another random visit. How long had it been? Days? Weeks? months. It was easy to loose track of time in the dark and dank solitude of these iron bars. The door opened and it lit figure from the back. It wasn't the warden this time. No it was someone who's presence was far more nauseating._

 _He stood there in that stupid orange sweatshirt of his, the one that was such an eyesore that it practically screamed out loud, 'Hey! Hit me! I'm a living target!' He told the warden to open the cell and close it behind him. they were alone. He looked down upon the prisoner. The prisoner rose neither his head nor his body off the floor to greet him._

 _"I want to ask you some questions."_

 _"..."_

 _"Old man, your Hokage is talking to you."_

 _"..."_

 _The blonde man sighed. "Uragi, I'm tired of these games. I demand you tell me what you know."_

 _The old man decided to raise his head for once. "What will it get me if I do?"_

 _"Not a ticket out of here, if that's what you're hoping for."'_

 _"Of course not. Why should I expect any generosity from the likes of you?"_

 _"You have no one to blame for being in here but yourself. You and whoever it is you call your master. Now I'm getting tired of asking this, so you'd better answer me this time: Who is leading Taka?"_

 _The prisoner said not a word. He only glared, like daggers of hate into the Hokage's soul._

 _"Uragi!"_

 _"..."_

 _"Fine."_

 _The man in orange turned around and ordered the warden to open the cell. Stepping out, he nodded to the warden, who proceeded to call for about five of his shinobi guards. One by one the guards came into the cell locking the door behind them. They huddled around the prisoner, the old, burned man, armed with steel batons, leather whips, even tasers._

 _The man in orange did not leave the room, just stood there and watched. He watched as the weak old man was beaten, whipped, and shocked by his own ninja for several minutes. Did he feel remorse for it? Hard to tell, just as it had been hard to tell all the other times this had happened._

 _But as the old man took the pain, and saw the bastard vanish in a puff of smoke, he did know one thing for certain: there was no pain these men could show him that could make him break._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _"I just don't understand. Why do you put yourself through this?"_

 _The orange one was alone today. Really alone. He had ordered the warden and all of the guards to give him the key and to leave him alone. When the warden tried to tell him that their presence was for his own safety, the prisoner heard the Hokage tell him, 'I'll be fine.'_

 _Now here they were, just the two of them. Both were standing up, facing the other. not a sound to be heard in the entire room, save for the scurrying of the rats._

 _"Uragi," he said, "I know you must feel like talking will make you a traitor to your organization. But face reality, they've already turned their backs on you. They had the moment you were captured."_

 _"Sounds familiar."_

 _The blonde one was actually surprised to finally hear him speak. "What did you say?"_

 _"You think that Taka has disavowed me because you and you, your friends, and that bastard son of yours robbed my power from me and locked me up in here. But how different is that than a village turning it's back on an off-the-books shinobi that gets captured behind enemy lines. Either way, the person looses."_

 _"I don't understand what you're getting at."_

 _"Of course you don't. A hypocrite who can't tell the difference between ending a cycle of hatred and fueling it couldn't possibly understand."_

 _"_ Hypocrite? _You call_ me _a hypocrite when you're the one who tried to bring peace and order to an entire village by taking it over from the inside?"_

 _"We all have to make sacrifices for the sake of progress. Besides, what does it say about you and your precious ninja system that so many of your own shinobi chose to side with Taka right under your nose?"_

 _The blonde narrowed his eyes. "They're paying for their treachery."_

 _"Yes they are, no thanks to you. Tell me, how many of your own men and women have you stripped of al rank and had arrested already for their beliefs? How many families have you destroyed in the process? How do you plan to explain to their children why their parents are spending their lives on trial or behind prison walls—"_

 _"I didn't come here to have a debate with you old man! I came here for answers!"_

 _The old man stopped and chuckled. "Fine. But before I tell you, can I ask you a couple of questions first? It is so hard to get any news in here, after all."_

 _The blonde growled in frustration. "Like what?"_

 _"Well, for one thing, is it true you promoted your son to lead a team to find the remaining chakra gems?"_

 _"Yeah, what of it?"_

 _"Nepotism much?" The old man cocked an eyebrow._

 _The blonde felt his eyebrow twitch and his bandaged hand clench. "Is there anything else?"_

 _"Yes. Any luck finding out what was on that scroll Odaku gave you?"_

 _"None of your business."_

 _"I'll take that as a no. No wonder you aren't having any luck finding those gems."_

 _"Are you going to the answer me or not?!"_

 _"Hmm...No, sorry. I'm just feeling too tired today. Maybe some other time."_

 _The Seventh Hokage grabbed the old man and pushed him against the far end of the cell. The old man could swear he saw his eyes go slitted and the faintest hints of an orange chakra bubbling out of his form._

 _Of course, he didn't get much of a chance to take that in, as the second he had him up against the iron bars, the Hokage gave a powerful, savage left hook right into the old man's jaw!_

 _"WHO IS YOU MASTER?!"_

 _"..." No answer. Another punch._

 _"WHO IS YOUR MASTER?!"_

 _"..." Still no answer. yet another punch._

 _"WHERE ARE THE REST OF TAKA'S LEADERS! WHO ARE THEY! WHERE ARE THE HIDING!"_

 _"..." Punch._

 _"WHERE ARE THEY?!"_

 _Punch._

 _"WHERE ARE THEY?!"_

 _Punch. Bleeding lips._

 _Punch. Bleeding lips. Swollen eye. Crushed face. Bloodied hand._

 _Punch..._

 _Punch..._

 _Punch..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Fifteen minutes of assault later, the old man was a beaten, bloodied, pathetic mess on the filthy floor of his prison cell. And the Seventh Hokage, his attacker? He was left standing there, open jawed, sweating from both adrenaline and terror. His hand was bruised and blood-stained._

 _He had lost control. He had let his anger over come him. He had given in to the monster._

 _Dear Sage, what had he done?_

 _And so the Hokage, disgusted both at his prisoner and at himself, did the only thing he could think to do...He walked out, not saying another word..._

...

...

...

Uragi felt to side of his face, all those memories from years past came flooding back. His eyes never left the fire, even after the boy had stormed off. Boruto had taken of also, no longer comfortable sitting there in that space.

"He hates me."

He turned to look at his leader. His liberator. The spawn of the failed one himself. "It's not you he hates."

She looked at him. "I-I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not sure I'm the only one he hates right now either."

"Who else?"

"Himself."

"And how would you know."

"...I know..."

* * *

Shinachiku had stormed off to be alone. He was too disgusted to be around anyone, especially not _him_. That bastard did not deserve his respect, or his camaraderie, not matter what Hanami. Actually, he was feeling almost as angry at her right now.

Seriously, what was she thinking?! This was the man who gave the orders to the men that tried to capture her! That pumped that serum into her blood that took her chakra away! This was the man that almost destroy their village, the family! This Sugure sounded evil and really powerful, but could he possibly be so bad that they needed _Uragi's_ help, of all people?!

He had a plan up his sleeve. He had an ulterior motive. He had to.

"You don't like him, do you?"

The blonde reacted in surprise. He'd thought he was alone, but it turns out he was approached by a certain red-headed, green eyed teenager.

"Oh!" Shina reacted in alarm. "Sorry, I didn't see you there."

"Uragi," Arashi continued, as if he hadn't heard what the blonde had just said. "You don't like him, do you?"

"No!" Shina snapped in anger. "How could I after everything he's done?"

"That was a long time ago."

"Not for me it wasn't."

"Uragi's and Taka have been a great help to us."

Shina shook his head in disbelief. "That's just what the old man wants you to think. He bides his time, waits until he has your trust, then he stabs you in the back! That's Taka's way."

Arashi was quiet before he spoke again. "Maybe you don't know him as well as you think you do."

"Of course I do! What do you know about it anyway? You weren't even born yet when that man betrayed the village. You've never had to live through a war!"

The young redhead glared at the blonde coldly. "Yes I have. All my life."

Shinachiku's anger subsided as reality hit him like a ton of bricks. It was true, he may have fought a battle for his village's soul, but this boy, his little brother, he's had to live throughout an entire war. And he's had to do it with only Hanami. There was fifteen years of history, of war, that the elder Uzumaki knew nothing about. Who was he to talk down to this boy?

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean..."

Arashi merely dismissed it. "It's alright."

"No, it's not." Shina walked up to the boy and took a deep breath. "Look, I can hardly imagine what you, sis, anybody else here have been through. I only know as much as I did when I left." He stopped for a second and laughed to himself. "Jeez, now I know how Boruto must feel."

"Huh?"

"Long story. My point is that..." He sighed. "I've known Uragi, Hanami, Kakashi-sensei, and many people here since before you were born. What you've been dealing with your whole life I'm literally just finding out in the last hour or so. Damn it! I've just found out that my team, my _friends_ , were all killed by a Taka spy that's been living right under our nose for a year! And now the man I hate more than anyone in the world is working with my sister—"

"Okay, I get it,' Arashi interrupted calmly. "But still, things are different now than the world you came from."

Shina rolled his eyes. "Obviously...Listen, I know I have a lot to learn, but you have to understand that in my time, Uragi was a very bad man."

"As bad a Sugure."

"Maybe."

Arashi spoke in a serious tone. "We need all the help we can to defeat Sugure, to finally end this war. We can't do that if we are fighting each other. I think you're going to have to find a way to make peace with Sugure."

"...I can't promise that."

"Can you try?"

Shinachiku looked at the boy in pity. He could sense the traces of innocence, of desperation in his voice. Taking a deep breath, he put a hand on his brother's shoulder and said. "Yeah...yeah, I promise."

Something surprised him then. The boy held out his fist, like he were making some sort of declaration. Shina couldn't quite describe it, but it felt, well, familiar. Actually, it kind of reminded him of something his father would do. That's why he instinctively knew the correct response was to tap his own fist to his. A bond between brothers, if you will.

"So..." Shina said, honestly not sure what to talk about next. "It's been just you and Hanami, huh?"

"Yes," Arashi concurred. "She's been helping to take care of me ever since she was about my age. Kakashi-sensei and some of the others have helped before then, but after a while onēsan really took charge, of all of us. I think she might have gotten it from our father."

Shina was curious. "How much do you know about your father?"

"Only what they've told me. I know he was the Seventh Hokage, that he was the Nine-Tail's jinchūriki, that he was a war hero—"

"No, no, I mean what do you _really_ know about him?"

Arashi paused, thinking hard about how to best answer the question. "They...They old me he was a good man. Energetic, reckless, kind of an idiot... But, also very kind, a good leader, and very strong. He loved his village, and the people within it. And he always put the needs of others before his own. Oh, and they say he never went back on his word, either."

Shina smiled. "Well, I'd say you've hit the major bullet points. What about mom?"

"Smart, determined, loyal, very short-tempered, really strong, respectful without being submissive, but kind of overemotional at times...Kind of the opposite of my father in a lot of ways, yet a lot like him in other ways. I'm not sure if that makes much sense."

"Believe me, it makes _perfect_ sense."

There was a silence that followed after that, as Shina appeared to be deep in thought, and Arashi took notice of it. "What is wrong?"

"It's just...I still don't know what happened to mom and dad."

"I can tell you."

"You can?"

"Yes...I mean, I wasn't there really, but onēsan told me the story once before. I can tell you the story she told me."

Shinachiku paused, thinking carefully before agreeing to whatever story he had for him, good or ill. "Tell me..."

...

...

...

* * *

Sasuke was sitting across from his best friend's shadow clone, listening to everything that he was telling him. It wasn't a whole lot to go one, really, all that was being told to him was that Shinachiku was missing and that Sarada an her teammates had reported in that they could not find him anywhere. They were regrouping with Sakura and the real Naruto back at their house to "get more information," whatever that meant, but apparently this mysterious man in the white robe was a person of interest.

"Why do you think this stranger is involved?" the Uchiha asked.

"Call it a hunch," the shadow clone told him.

"You're old enough to know that you need more evidence than just a hunch."

"Okay, how about this guy showing up and bumping into me a Sakura on the street as we're finding out about Shinachiku. Or the creepy vibe I got when he introduced himself. Or the grip that was so tight I swear he could have crushed my hand. _My_ hand."

That actually got the Uchiha's attention. "Really? Someone as strong as you, that's no easy task."

"No kidding." The clones stole a quick glance at the man in white, sitting several rows away from them, before he spoke again. "I know it's probably nothing, but i have my instincts and there's something about this guy that just isn't right."

Sasuke studied his friend's doppelganger carefully, contemplating his words before he decided to get down to business. "So what's the plan?"

"For now, we stay quiet and watch his every move. We get off wherever he does and follow from a distance. Basic tracking mission."

"And if he catches on to us?"

The clone smirked. "Then you and I do what we do best."

The Uchiha smirked back. "Now you're sounding like the old you."

All of sudden they heard a whistle blow and the grinding of the wheels grinding down the track. The semi smooth movement of the train call meant that the mechanical monster was roaring to life and rolling towards it's destination. There was no turning back now.

"Hmm..."

"What?"

Sasuke shook his head. "It's nothing. I just realized that I haven't had the chance to take a mission by train before."

"Seriously?"

"Call me old fashioned that way."

"So what do you think of it?"

"I'll let you know when the trip is over." The reven-haired ninja adjusted his body to get himself comfortable but still maintain a clear view of their target.

At that moment, the stewardess came by pushing a trolley full of food and drink, and stopped in front of them. "Good day gentlemen, anything from the trolley?"

Naruto's clone raised his hand. "Got any raman?"

"I don't think so sir."

"Oh...well, coffee's fine."

The stewardess poured a cup and handed it to him. Thank goodness the clone still had his hood up. If she had been able to see his face, she likely would have blurted out loud for the whole train to hear that the Seventh Hokage himself was on board. That kind of attention was exactly what this mission didn't need.

"Anything for you sir?"

Sasuke glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "Water."

She poured him a cup and handed it to him, then moved on to serve the other passengers. Eventually, she came to yet another man in a robe, a white one. "Anything from the trolley sir?"

The stranger never looked at her, Underneath his hood, his eyes were squarely focused on two other men the whole time. "No thank you dear, I've got everything I need."

* * *

And with that, I thinks that's a good enough place to end things for now. Naruto (well, his clone anyway) and Sasuke are on a mission together to trail Sugure and to find out what he knows about Shina's disappearance. And don't forget, Naruto has chose not to tell Sasuke about Sarada's memory being erased. Let's see where that leads.

But really, this chapter was all about catching us back up on Uragi and giving some kind of context of why he is working with the rebellion. And, naturally, Shna is very _very_ unhappy about it. I enjoyed writing that, because it gave me a reason to suddenly flip the script that this story has been following so far and make him the confused, emotional one while Boruto was, well, just trying to make sense of what was going on.

This chapter was also a major continuation of what has been a major theme in this story, that being the gradual dirtying up of Naruto's character. We've seen him keeping details about the train accident in the first chapter under wraps, then loosing his temper at loosing the Sandosupai trial, then him fumbling with how to best deal with Boruto, then all the talk about him (intentionally or not) promoting his son to captain of his own team out of nepotism, to the problems he and Sakura are having, and now he's lying to his best friend about his own daughter. Clearly, what Taka has put him through has molded him into a different man than the pure, shining beacon of leadership he once was,, whether he realizes it or not.

This chapter had perhaps the darkest evidence of that yet, in Uragi's memories of his time in prison. The idea of Uragi suffering some sort of prison torture was something I had dropped clues about my prequel story "Konoha Tonight." I was intentionally trying to make it uncomfortable and even generate some level of sympathy for the villain here. You don't expect to see the fully grown adult Naruto to get so mad that he would loose control like this, but Uragi really knows how to get under his skin. I am sure that a lot of you may not have liked this darker take on Naruto's character, but i do have my reasons for it, you will just have to wait and see.

...Then again, you have to wonder whether or not Uragi has his own reasons fr siding against Sugure that we might not know about. I'm not saying either way.

There were a couple of lines in this chapter that were inspired by other sources. The torture scene itself, with Naruto yelling the same question over and over again as he keeps punching Uragi over and over was partially inspired by the interrogation scene in "The Dark Knight," in which Batman similarly loosing control of his angry with questioning the Joker.

The title of this chapter, said by Uragi himself, is taking from a famous quote from an ancient proverb that suggests that two opposing parties can or should work together against a common enemy. According to Wikipedia, the earliest known expression of this concept is found in a Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, the _Arthashastra_ , which dates to around the 4th century BC, while the first recorded use of the current English version came in 1884.

I think that's all I have to say for this time. Thank you all so much for your support once again, and I look forward to having you back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	22. Chapter 22--Sudden Developments

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi back again with the next chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

It took me a while to figure out the structure this one should take, but i think I got it to where it needs to go for the sake of this story. There will be a bit more action in this chapter, but also some foreboding and emotion as well. I hope you all like it.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 22: Sudden Developments**

The train thundered down the tracks towards in destination. According to the ticket, it was going to be making it's last stop in the Hidden Cloud Village, but there were still plenty of stops along to way, and there was no way of knowing where their target was going to be getting off.

Naruto and Sasuke, meanwhile, continued to sit where they were, keeping their eyes on their target. The blonde was sipping at his cup of coffee, while the Uchiha had already downed his cup of water.

It was quiet...too quiet. Both men were all business, but even then, there was an air of unnecessary uneasiness. Neither of then two men wanted to talk, for reasons that were totally their own. In fact, you could hear a pin drop has the rumbling of the tracks not been so loud.

Surprisingly, it was the Uchiha who finally broke the silence. "So why?"

"Hmm?"

"Why send a shadow clone with me on this mission when you could have just come yourself?"

Naruto sat his coffee cup down. "I'm the Hokage, I have responsibilities to attend to in my village. I can't just leave to go on random missions whenever I want. You know that."

Sasuke scowled. "And since when has that ever stopped you?"

"I don't know what you mean. And I don't care for you attitude either."

"You're dream has always been to become the Hokage, but once you did you've always prioritized your family and your friends over your job. The Naruto I know would have left a shadow clone to sit in his office and file his paper work and chose to come on this mission with me himself, not the other way around."

Naruto said nothing for a few seconds, before sighing and giving an answer. "It's like you said, I wanted to stay in the village with Sakura and the kids."

"Hmm..." Sasuke took in what his friend said. "That does sound like you...But come to think of it, that's even more troubling."

"Excuse me?"

"Ever since Uragi's coup last year, you've been different. You spend the night at your office, you've been more agitated, you see your family half as often as you used too—"

"We need to crack down and get to work if we are going to defeat Taka. That means a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice. Sometimes the tough choices need to be made. I'd expect you of all people would understand that."

Sasuke shook his head. "And yet here we are. You just admit that your village is where your responsibilities are, and yet you say it's your family where your needed right now."

Naruto scowled back. "What are you getting at?"

"You're hiding something from me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie me dobe. I'm not dumb enough to fall for that crap."

Naruto was silent for what felt like forever, before he sighed and finally spoke. "Listen, I know I've been busy lately, and you're right, I have been taking things for granted, but...Sasuke, Shinachiku is missing. I _need_ to be with my family while we look for him. Sakura, Shina, Hanami, they mean more to me that being Hokage ever could."

Naruto looked out the window, seeing his reflection in the glass as the trees and power lines zoomed past. "And maybe I've lost sight of that somewhere..."

Sasuke studied his friend carefully, taking note of everything he said and how he acted. His posture, his tone, his expression, they were all clear signs that he meant what he was saying. 'Maybe you've lost sight of yourself also.'

The Uchiha spoke aloud. "So why are we both here?"

"It's really not that complicated. My son's missing and I'm suspicious of this guy in white, so I made a clone to keep an eye on him. Simple as that."

"So why involve me?"

"Because if things go wrong, I'm going to need some backup."

"You're just a clone. If you die then the real Naruto will still be alive in the village, and the I'll be all alone without my own backup."

"Which is why I needed someone I could trust to come back alive no matter what happens."

Sasuke groaned at the clone's arrogant smirk. "You're a real piece of work, you know that."

"That makes two of us." Naruto was going to take another sip of coffee before he remembered something. "By the way?"

"What?"

"What's going on with that girl you showed me? The one who survived the train wreck?"

Sasuke realized what he meant. "Oh nobody told you? We contacted her aunt and uncle from the Hidden Cloud Village. Then arrived today to pick her up."

"Good." The blonde was genuinely relieved for her. "I sure hope they have a nice home of her so she can grow up and forget all about those guys with..."

Naruto trailed off as his mind broadened and his eyes widened. Something had just clicked in his memory and his underrated sense of deduction was connecting the dots.

"What wrong?"

"Sasuke, those terrorist that wrecked that train the girl was on...What did the report say they were dressed as again?"

Now it was Sasuke's turn for his eyes to go wide. 'Damn it! How could I be so blind?!' Mysterious stranger, white robe, strength enough to hurt Naruto's hand. The pieces all fit!

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "we need to stay on our guard. There's no telling what this guy might be capable of."

"Agreed. Let's just keep waiting this out..."

...

...

...

The ride felt like it lasted for hours. Neither of them took their eyes off of the man in white, or if one of them did, then it was the other's job to take over and cover for them. The train must have made at least five stops already, but their target never moved from his seat.

"How many more stops until we get to Iwa?" Sasuke asked.

"Another eight stops, at least," Naruto answered.

The raven-haired Anbu groaned in annoyance. At times like this, he wished they'd served alcohol on board this train, at least that would have killed some of the boredom.

"Sasuke!"

"What?"

The blonde nudged his head in the other direction. Looking, Sasuke saw what his friend was getting at. The train was still moving, and their target had finally moved from his seat. He was heading down the aisle in the opposite direction, opening the doors to move to another car.

With a nod, the two of them got up and followed him. Some of the other passengers saw them get up, but then diverted their attention again and went back to whatever the were doing. Others held their attention longer as soon as they recognized that the Seventh Hokage and the Last Uchiha were both there in their presence. Normally Naruto would have been happy to greet his admirers, but not while he was in the middle of a tracking mission. Sasuke, on the other hand, he couldn't have cared less either way.

Opening the door to the next cart, they could just catch a glimpse of a white cloak pass through the door to the next car. So they kept walking, car to car, until they finally made it to the other end of the train, the last passenger car.

Two sets of eyeballs scanned the aisle and the seating. Some of the passengers were staring at them, others remained distracted.

"See anything?"

Sasuke scanned all over the place. "There."

The two of them were about to make their move, when a stewardess, stood before them. "Excuse me sirs, but we are about to make a stop. Please take a seat until instructed to stand by the conductor."

Both men made silent agreement. They couldn't make a scene of they'd loose their cover would be blown, so they took a pair of empty seats and kept an eye on the man in white once again.

"Naruto," Sasuke whispered, "I think he might be—"

"I was thinking the same thing. You sneak into the luggage car, I'll follow him outside."

After another five minutes of so, the conductor's voice came on over the loudspeaker, instructing the passengers that they were making their next stop at a village about halfway to Iwagakure. They could feel the train slow down and finally come to a stop at the station. With a final word from the conductor, the doors opened and some of the passengers began to disembark, including the man in white.

Naruto and Sasuke made their move, the blonde joined the crowd exiting the train while Sasuke sneakily worked his way towards the back and quietly opened the door letting into the luggage car.

He was surrounded by dozens of packages, wooden crates, and other cargo in a space that only had a few narrow pathways for crew to walk for unloading. He had to admit, it was the best possible hiding place on this entire train if you didn't prefer hiding in plain sight.

Sasuke walked slowly, his hand on his kanto sword keeping it at the ready. His eyes darted from one direction to the next. He could sense nothing coming from anywhere, which he found very strange.

Then he turned a corner, and looked behind a stack of crates. He expected his prey to be hiding there...He wasn't.

The car was eerily silent. Whoever this guy was, he sure knew how to hide himself. He couldn't sense his chakra anywhere. And there were only so many places in here that he could hide...Unless...

Sasuke quickly threw his weapon up at the roof the car. The blade embedded itself in the roof, the sound of sliced metal echoing. He had struck nothing.

"Mistake."

All of a sudden, the crate closest to Sasuke burst open, revealing the man in white. he had an extra sharp kunai hidden under is sleeve with he flung out with remarkable speed. So fast, in fact, that even the bearer of the Rinnegan itself nearly missed it in the nick of time.

'Damn! He's fast!'

With milliseconds to spare, Sasuke caught his attackers arm and flicked his sword out of it's scabbard, holding it against his attacker's neck.

Time stood still, one could literally hear a pin drop if there were one to be found. Any other foe would be cowering in their boots if the Uchiha had his blade at their throat...But this was not just any man.

"Well either choke me or cut my throat. Make up your mind."

Sasuke's face showed nothing, but he was intrigued at the sheer coldness, the lack of even a trace of concern for his own life. "Who are you?"

"I am—" The man in white paused for only a second before continuing. "I am the man you came here to interrogate, and now you are stupidly holding a blade at his throat."

"Answer my question."

"If you want to kill me, it would be most effective if you would cut the carotid artery, just under the left ear."

Sasuke glared at his prey. He could barely see anything under the shade of his hood, but his could see his mouth. There was no quivering lip, no smile in arrogance, nothing. Just a solemn, neutral mouth, utterly calm and emotionless.

...Sasuke had to admit, he was impressed. "Like a brave man."

"I was simply trying to avoid an argument...Oh, you can put your sword down now."

"Not a chance. First you're going to tell me who you are, and then you are coming with me back to the Leaf Village.

The man in white didn't move. "Oh Great Indra, you give them eyes, yet they do not see."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you've been so busy focusing on me that you never paid attention to what cargo was being transported into the crate I've been hiding in. How clumsy of you."

Suspicious, Sasuke's eyes darted behind his target and once they had his eyes widened in shock! Stored inside the crate for transport was several barrels of explosive powder! And there was a hold cut into the side of one of them, from which some of the powder had leaked out to form a short trail to it's source.

'Shit! How could I be so stupid?!'

His heart skipped a beat when he heard a clicking sound. Sasuke glanced down to his target's white sleeve, out of which fell something small and bright and hot...a lighted match!

Now the Man in White smirked. "Boom."

 _POOF!_ Just like the he was gone! the man had been a shadow clone the entire time! Sasuke had no time to process that though, as the spark of flame had already made it's short trip to the barrel of explosive powder...

...

...

...

 _ **BOOM!**_

The crowds at the train station erupted in terrified screams as the entire train car exploded without any warning, the explosion was intense enough to engulf most of the other cars in flame as well, destroying some of them and damaging others with intense heat and debris. Many people both still on the train and at the station were instantly killed.

As the screaming crowds of people fled the scene in horrified panic, Naruto too reacted in shocked alarm, then horror as the very car that he'd ordered his best friend enter had just been destroyed. But unlike everyone else, the Seventh Hokage could not move, only stand there and watch.

'Sasuke...'

The blonde clenched his fist in anger. Flinging his head back towards the fleeing crowd, his could make out a white cloak way at the other end of the crowd.

 **"HAAAA!"**

Naruto's body instantly became consumed with golden flame, his Nine-Tails Chakra Mode activated. As he screamed, a long chakra arm shot out of his body, weaving through the scared civilians until it directly grabbed the man by the cloak and dragged him all the way back to him.

"You bastard! You're gonna pay for that!"

Naruto's furious threat stirred no reaction at all from the man in white.

"Who the hell are you?! Where is my son?! ANSWER ME?!"

Something happened then. Something that the blonde could not have seen coming. the man in white's body started changing. His body was consumed in a bubbling layer of sinister red chakra, of an even darker shade than Kurama's.

'W-What? How...'

Out of the chakra shroud came a chakra arm which grabbed hold of the one Naruto was strangling him with. Naruto could feel the intense grip of the enemy's extra appendage like it was trying to crack his real arm in half.

"UGH!"

Naruto grunted in pain as the enemy's chakra arm was strong enough to break and disintegrate Naruto's own, even with him in Nine-Tails Mode! The man himself landed back on the ground with ease, like none of this was in any way a big deal to him.

"What..." Naruto said as he grasped his arm. "What are you...?"

"You would like to know, wouldn't you?" The stranger took a second to casually brush some debris and dust off of his white robe, before speaking again. "As much as I would like for this to continue, I'm afraid I am needed elsewh—"

"ROAR! CHIDORI KATANA!"

A loud noise like the chirping of a flock of birds echoed throughout the area as a man with dark clothes and with raven hair charged in a fury with his blade surrounded with electric chakra. "Take this you bastard!"

The man in white merely whipped out a kunai from under his sleeve and held it up casually. "CHIDORI KUNAI!"

The kunai was engulfed in it's own sparks of electric chakra with it's own intense chirping. The Uchiha's blade came down to clash with his opponent's kunai and the clanging of steel cause and intense electric shockwave, sending bolts of lightning everywhere through the still fleeing and panicking masses.

Sasuke could hardly believe it. This bastard was not only holding off one of his best jutsu, but he was copying it with an inferior weapon and, judging by his posture, with minimal effort.

"Nice try, but not good enough."

The man in white landed a kick to Sasuke's stomach, sending him back several feet. The Uchiha stabbed his weapon into the ground to slow down his momentum leaving a long gash in the concrete when he came to a stop.

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah dobe, it's me."

Naruto smiled. "Thank goodness. You had me worried for a second there. I should have known that explosion wouldn't be enough to beat you."

Sasuke paused in personal reflection before responding. "It was close."

"Huh?" Naruto said confused.

"The explosive powder he lit was right there next to us. _Inches_ away from us. I had just milliseconds to shield myself with my Mangekyō and my Rinnegan, less time than I did even back at Kabuto's lab. If I had reacted any later, I might have been killed."

The blonde felt taken aback. "Your serious." It wasn't a question. He could tell clear as day that his friend was dead serious.

"Hold on!" Naruto shouted, his body taking a super-deformed demeanor. "What the hell man?! You're telling me you almost got blown up from a little trap with explosive powder?! I thought you were supposed to be a genius or something?! How cold you be dumb enough to fall into a trap like that?!"

Sasuke yelled back, also taking a super-deformed demeanor. "It wasn't my sharpest moment okay! Now get off my back dobe!"

"Don't talk back to me! I'm you Hokage remember!"

"I wouldn't care if you were the damiyo! You'll always just be a loud mouthed idiot!"

"You're the idiot who almost got himself killed! IDIOT!"

Sasuke gritted his teeth and grunted in irritation. But his attitude quickly changed when he saw his target again, his _real_ target this time. The man in white was just standing there, his weapon put back away and his face still hidden under his hood.

"Naruto."

"What?"

"Whatever you do, don't underestimate this guy. He's much smarter than he looks."

"Yeah, and he strong too, like I told you."

"He's fast too. As fast as me at least. Probably as fast as you too."

"Huh?"

They were both cut off by the sound of hands clapping. "You two really are quite a pair; arguing incessantly one moment, acting like real partners the next. I can see why the gossip columns like to spread rumors about you two."

Both of the men's faces went beat red. "SHUT UP!"

"Sorry, sorry," the man in white apologized. "Now then, what can I do for you gentlemen?"

"You can answer for blowing up that train car and getting those people killed for one!" Naruto shouted angrily.

"You have no one to blame for that but yourselves. If the two of you hadn't followed me here from Konoha, I would have had no reason to set such a trap, and those imperfect souls would still be alive."

Naruto was furious. "You dare blame us for those people you killed?!"

"I am merely stating the truth." The man in white started to turn around. "Now if you excuse me, I need to find another ride back to the rest of my team."

"You're not going anywhere!"

The man in white stood calmly where he was. Suddenly, the three of them were surrounded by a squadron of elite Cloud Ninja.

"Hold it right there!" the squad captain shouted. "By the authority of the Raikage, you are all under—Wait! Lord Hokage! Is that you!"

"Yes captain," Naruto assured. "Sasuke Uchiha and I have this under control. Get your men out of here while you still can."

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm under orders and this is Land of Lightning terri—AAAGGHH!"

The captain never got to finish his sentence because the man in white had leaped over to him seemingly in the blink of an eye and stabbed his hand clean through his body!

"NO!" Naruto instantly formed a Rasengan in his palm to charge at the murderer...only for Sasuke to grab his shoulder to hold him back.

"Sasuke!"

"Wait." That was all the Uchiha said, simple as that.

"DAMN YOU!" One of the captain's associates lashed out with his tantō, only for the man in white to use the captain's own body as a human shield. The blade cut into the captain's already dying body, killing him instantly.

"C-Captain..." the Cloud Ninja uttered, horrified that he had just killed his own leader.

His grief didn't last long as the man in white threw the captain's corpse at the rest of the platoon, using the ninja's moment of weakness to dash towards him and strangle him by the throat, crushing it. Before the body even fell to the floor, he had already ripped limbs off or punctured through all of the ninja, leaving every single one of them dead in a horrific massacre!

The floor of the train station was now drenched in a pool of dark red blood. Limbs, heads, internal organs, all manner of ghastly gore was at their feet. And standing in the center of it was the man in white, his cloak now stained red with death.

Naruto and Sasuke were horrified at what they had just witnessed, the full weight of the kind of monster they were dealing with on display right in front of them. Or at least, it was horrifying for Naruto. His movements were so fast, so cold and ruthless that it was a horror even for him. Of all the enemies he had encountered on all of his travels—Zabuza, Gaara, Kabuto, Orochimaru, the Akatsuki, Pain, Obito, Madara, Kaguya, Uragi, that weird tiger guy, even Sasuke himself—none of them had ever shown a display of fast, ruthless, cold, bloody, disgusting murder like what he had just seen now. He has faced foes with the power to obliterate entire villages with a single jutsu. He had faced masters of weapons that could fatally stab you within the blink of an eye. But to do what this guy had just done, it was enough to make even the Seventh Hokage feel uneasy.

Sasuke, on the other hand, had studied the scene that had just transpired, forcing himself to pay more attention to their enemy's movements and technique than to the horror of the lives that were taken right in front of him.

The man in white notice the cloak he was wearing. "Oh darn, and I just had this washed too. Well, nothing for it I suppose. I'd love to stay and talk gentlemen, but I really should be going. Don't worry though, we'll see each other again."

Less than a second. That's how long it took for him to make his next move. Instantly, he laid a powerful punch straight into Naruto's stomach that was strong enough to make the Seventh Hokage's clone cough up his own blood.

"MANGEKYŌ—AAAAAGGGHHH!"

It wasn't even a full second after his friend had been punched that Sasuke felt a powerful karate chop at the base of his neck. His kekki genki never activated in time and he could feel his consciousness failing him. The last thing he was aloud to see before passing out was his friend's shadow clone puffing out of existence, everything it had learned and experienced traveling back to its creator...that, and his attacker taking his sword from him as he started casually walking away.

'Damn you...'

...

...

...

Sasuke woke up hours later, no longer at the train station but now in a blank room. A simple room with white walls, a single window and door, and a fan overhead blowing a light breeze. The window was half open, allowing the breeze to enter and lightly blow the curtains.

Looming to his right, he saw a heart monitor measuring his pulse, which was beating normally. Clearly he was in a hospital somewhere, but he felt fine overall. Well, except for a massive headache, one that only got worse when he recalled everything that happened.

'Dammit Naruto! What kind of mess have you gotten me into?'

The door suddenly opened and in stepped a young, cute brunette nurse carrying a clip board with medical documents attached to it. "Oh, good morning sir," she said, surprised to see him awake.

"Where am I?"

"You're in bed, in a hospital recovering from your injuries."

"I meant what village am I in?"

"You're in Suzuda, about two miles away from where we found you."

'So I'm in the same village where the train stopped.' Sasuke pondered as he took everything in. Unfortunately, all of that intense thinking was only making his headache worse. "Agh!"

"Oh," the nurse said concerned. "Do you have a headache?" he nodded his head. "Here, take these."

Sasuke took a pair of aspirin she'd given him, quickly putting them in his mouth and drowning them with a bottle of water by his bed.

"Thank you," he told her. "How long have I been here?"

"Since yesterday. You've been asleep since we found you last afternoon. Whoever hit you must have really done a number on you."

Sasuke felt the back of his neck. 'That wasn't just some rogue ninja. Not just anybody can knock me out that easily. His movements were so fast I didn't even get to fully activate my Mangekyō...'

"Excuse me sir?" The nurse interrupted his thoughts. "I hate to bother you, but I have authorities here wanting to speak to you about what happened. They said they need your testimony to fill out a report."

"Fine."

Nodding, the nurse left to go inform them, leaving Sasuke alone with his thoughts, such as how much he should and shouldn't tell them, for the sake of his mission.

'Karin, Sarada, please tell me you're both alright...'

* * *

"Hey Sarada, are you alright?"

The raven-haired girl snapped her head back in the direction of her teammate. "Of course I'm not alright Mitsuki! My boyfriend, you captain, has been missing for a whole day now and you wonder if I'm alright!"

The girl was snapped out of her frustration when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Already knowing who it was, she turned to see her other teammate just looking at her.

"..."

"I know, I know. Loosing my temper isn't going to solve anything. All we can do is have faith until either someone finds him or one of us remembers something. Thanks Muon." The silent shinobi nodded.

"Sarada?"

The Uchiha girl turned in surprise as a little girl with pink hair came into the same room as her. "What is it Hanami?"

"You don't...You don't think somebody did something bad to oniichan do you?"

She shook her head. "No, no. I'm sure wherever he is he's just fine. Now why don't you go fnd you mom."

Still clearly nervous, Hanami did as she was told, going up the stairs towards her parent's room.

"You remind me of her mother," Mitsuki said.

Sarada seemed surprised. "Huh? Why is that?"

"Both of you are bad liars."

A vain appeared on Sarada's forehead as he huffed and folded her arms. "Jerk."

"Hey kids," Kushina came in carrying a tray and some steaming cups. "I thought you might like some tea while we wait."

"Thank you Lady Kushina!" the kids all said, expect for Muon, but he nodded in gratitude.

"Say," Kushina asked after looking around, "have any of you seen Hanami?"

"She went that way ma'am," Mitsuki pointed in the direction of the stairs. "I believe she might be in her room."

"Domo Mitsuki." The fiery redhead began climbing the stairs to her granddaughter's room, leaving the three of them alone.

Mitsuki turned back to Sarada. "I believe I owe you an apology."

"What are you talking about?"

"When this team was assembled Shinachiku chose you as his second in command. Accusations of nepotism aside, with him currently missing, that makes you the captain now. And it was not my place to call you a liar. Please forgive me captain."

Sarada appeared perplexed by her teammates overly analytical tone, but she accepted his apology nonetheless. "Thanks...I think."

"For the record," Mitsuki interrupted, "I am concerned for him too."

Sarada sighed. "Drink your tea Mitsuki."

"Hai captain."

On the second floor of the house, Kushina was walking down the hall to the next staircase when she passed by her son's office, remembering that he said he had important work to do and that he'd been in there ever since.

 _Knock! Knock!_

"Come in," came a voice from the inside.

Kushina opened the door and saw a very tired, nervous and disheveled Naruto sitting at his desk. Judging by the paleness of his skin, the red veins in his eyes, the messiness of his hair, and the sweat patched under his arms, it was pretty clear that he was nervous, overstressed wreck right now.

"Sweetie," she said, "are you alright."

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine mom."

Shutting the door behind her, Kushina frowned in pity at her son. "You can't lie to your mother dear."

The blonde put his head in his hand. "Fine! I'm frustrated! I've called every district in the entire village and nobody has any idea where Shinachiku is!"

"We're all worried about him dear."

Naruto slumped back in his chair. "I know. I just...I'm not used to feeling this...helpless."

Kushina came over to him and wrapped her arms around him, kissing his cheek. "Have faith, ad don't give up."

"I'm surprised you're so calm about this mom. We're you the one who was freaking out just a couple hours ago?"

"I am worried. Terribly worried. But you and your father were right, panicking and screaming isn't going to solve anything."

Naruto smiled. "You always know what to say to cheer me up."

"That's what a mother is for dear. By the way, don't they still need you at work?"

"I've got a shadow clone covering for me. Right now, my place is—"

Naruto's speech was interrupted by a sudden ping in his brain. A flood of information but instantly flooded his mind all at once, something that only happened when one of his shadow clones dispelled. What he learned cased his eyes to widen in shock.

'Sasuke...'

"Naruto? Sweetie, are you alright?"

The blonde quickly got out of his chair again. "Sorry mom, but I need to go to work."

"But I thought you said—"

"I know what I said, but something's...come up."

Not saying another word, Naruto left his office and started walking towards the stairs. But then he stopped. He couldn't shake this itching feeling in his stomach, like he couldn't just leave things as they were. Like if he just walked out the door like this were any other day, that he might regret it for the rest of his life.

Making a quick turn, he turned the other way to head for the other flight of stairs, those that would take him up to the third floor. Climbing the steps, he walked to the end of the hall to his master bedroom. Knocking on the door, he heard a feminine voice that he loved so much beckon him to come inside.

Opening the door, he saw the love of his life sitting there on their bed, and she wasn't alone. Their precious little girl was there with her, sitting in her mother's lap. It warmed his heart so much seeing the two of them together.

"Daddy!"

"Hey," he said sitting down on the bed. "How's daddy's little princess?"

Hanami came over and hugged her father. "I'm worried about oniichan."

"I know, we all are. But he'll be back, just you wait."

As father and daughter shared their embrace, Naruto made eye contact with his wife. The message was clear, no words needed to be said.

"Hanami, sweetie," Sakura said, "mommy and daddy have some important things to talk about. Why don't you go to your room and play for a little while."

The pink-haired girl looked for one parent to another before reluctantly getting off the bed to walk towards her room, taking one last look around them both before leaving.

"Naruto," Sakura said, "what's going on? Did someone find something about Shina?"

Her husband shook his head. "No, and I've been calling everyone in the village to be on high alert if they see any trace of him. But now something else has happened."

"What?" Sakrua asked, fear for the worst clear in her voice.

"I sent a shadow clone to go with Sasuke on his mission and he dispelled. Apparently this guy is way stronger than we thought he was. I think Sasuke's in trouble."

Sakura gasped. "What are you going to do?"

"I need to go back to the office and order some backup for him."

"Are you sure that's going to be enough? Naruto, he's our best friend."

"I know, but I can't leave a shadow clone working at the office for too long without somebody getting suspicious. Besides, I gave Sasuke this mission because I trust that he'll make it back no matter what. After all, he's the strongest ninja we know besides me."

"And if he doesn't make it back?" She tried to hide the worry in her voice, but there was no use concealing it from him, he'd known her for far too long for that.

Naruto all of a sudden was overcome with a vision. It was a vision of himself getting a phone call, from whom it didn't matter, all that was important was what the message said: Sasuke Uchiha was dead. The image changed, now he was seeing Karin and Sarada crying their eyes out, their family in ruin, and all because of him. He also saw Sakura, _his_ Sakura, succumbing to her own grief that her first love was gone...and again, it was all his fault...

"Your right, " he said, "I'm the one that got Sasuke into this, I have to be the one to get him out."

Sakura was horrified. "Naruto! Your family needs you _here_!"

"I'm not going to argue this with you Sakura. I thought a shadow clone would be enough to handle this, but I was wrong."

"But Shinachiku needs you!"

"YEAH AND SO DOES SASUKE DAMMIT!"

The room filled with silence as Sakura just sat there scolding him. Naruto immediately knew he'd gone too far by yelling at her. Taking a long sigh, he spoke again: "Listen, I'm sorry, I just...I have to do this, not just for Sasuke, but for Shina. This Sugure guy, he knows something, I _know_ he does, and as Hokage, Sasuke's best friend, and most of all as Shina's father, I have to find out what he knows."

Sakura sat there in silence, taking it in before speaking again. "Let me go with you."

"Out of the question."

"What?!"

"One of us has to stay here with the kids. Not just Hanami, but Sarada and her friends too."

"Naruto!" she protested. "Don't treat me like I'm some helpless little girl! I _know_ how to take care of myself!"

"I know you can."

"Then why?"

"Because if something bad happens, then it won't just be you that gets hurt."

He point directly at her, specifically at her stomach. Touching it herself, she instantly understood. This wasn't just about protecting her, this was about protecting their child. Dear Sage, how could she have been so close minded?"

"I...I understand."

Naruto frowned and placed a hand on top of her own. "I'm sorry Sakura, but this is what I have to do."

"Promise me."

"What?"

"Right now. Promise me that no matter what, promise that you'll come home to me. To me, to Hanami, to Shina, to your parents, to all of us. I can't loose you Naruto. I _can't_!"

Taking his hand off of hers, he used both hands to cup the side of her face, using his thumbs to wipe away her tears. Giving her the sweetest, most genuine smile he knew how to give, he made his vow. "You know me Sakura, I always keep my word, no matter what. I swear that I'll come back. It's a promise of a lifetime."

Those words. Those words made her heart stop. There was a time when those words defined their entire relationship, like an anvil hanging over their heads. And until it was lifted, they could never be together. But now they were, and it was the happiest she had ever been in her life...And now he was saying it again. Only this time, it was not to bring someone she thought she loved back to her. No, it was to come back to her, plain and simple.

"Naruto..."

Smiling, he raised his head and planted a soft kiss right on her forehead, as he knew she liked. He held that kiss for several seconds before finally letting go. But she wasn't finished yet. Oh no...

Fiercely, she grabbed him by the shirt and crashed his lips onto her own. She poured all of her love and bliss into the kiss. He quickly returned it, wrapping his arms around her as she did so around his neck. There was no one else in the world at that moment, just them. Only them...

But alas, eventually they had to break apart. And when the did, he flashed another smile at her before getting off of the bed and out the door, leaving her alone...

Naruto made it down the hall only a little bit before stopping in front of his daughter's room. The door was open and he could see her inside playing with her toys. His heart almost ached at the sight of her innocence.

But then, she saw him there. "Daddy?"

"Oh! Hi sweetie. What are you playing?"

"Sailor Moon." She said as she held up her doll. "She's the princess of the Moon Kingdom! With the power of love and friendship!"

Her father chuckled. "That's right, I forgot how much you like that show. Kind of like how your brother is a big fan of that one guy. What's his name? Song Oku?"

"No daddy, it's Son Goku."

"Oh right, yeah, that Super Saiyan thing, or whatever it is. He eve dressed up like him for Halloween that year."

"Daddy?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"I heard you talking to mommy. Are you really leaving to go help Uncle Sasuke?"

Naruto took a deep breath before bringing her into his lap. "Yes Hanami, I am. I think you uncle might be in trouble and he might need my help."

"What about oniichan?"

"Don't worry, I've got shadow clones in the village covering work for me and platoons searching everywhere. Wherever your brother is, they'll find him. Besides, I'll only be gone for a few days."

"But daddy..."

Naruto ran his hands through her short pink locks. "Shh...Don't be sad. Everything will be fine. After all..." Naruto smiled, "...nobody's tougher than your dad."

Hanami smiled cutely. "Right!"

He kissed her own forehead and gave her one last hug. "Be strong Hanami. I'll come home soon, I promise."

"I love you daddy."

"I love you too sweetie."

Letting her go, Naruto gave her one last smile before leaving her room and descending down the stairs. He made it as far as the second floor when he spotted two familiar faces standing there in front of his office door.

"Mom? Dad? What's going on?"

Kushina folded her arms. "You didn't think you could just leave on a sudden mission to go help Sasuke and not say goodbye to your parents, did you?"

Naruto sweat dropped. "You heard all of that?"

"You left in such a rush that I was curious what was going on."

Minato clarified. "In other words, your mother started snooping." Kushina blushed and scratched the back of her head.

"Listen you guys," Naruto spoke again, "I know that Shina's missing and that I am Hokage, but Sasuke's—"

"We know, we know," Minato stopped him. "Your mother and I already had this conversation, and we both understand that this is something you have to do."

Naruto was surprised. "Mom, you're okay with this?"

"Of course I'm not okay with this! My only son's rushing off to save his friend when his son is missing! ...But your father and I both know how much Sasuke means to you and we heard you say you think this guys knows something about Shina. So go do what you have to do. But Naruto, _please_ come home."

Naruto came over and wrapped his mother in a hug. "I promise. You both were forced to leave me alone through no fault of your own. I'm not going to do the same to you."

Kushina broke the hug and wiped a tear away. "Thank you sweetheart." She gave him peck on the cheek for good measure.

"Good luck son." Minato shook his hand hard. It was all that was needed to be said between the two of them.

"Thank you guys. I'll be back." And with that, he moved past them and down the stairs.

Upon finally making it to the bottom level, Naruto made a beeline straight for the front door...

"Uncle Naruto?"

He stopped once again, almost forgetting that Sarada and her friends were still there. "H-Hey kids."

"Are you going somewhere Lord Seventh?" Mitsuki asked.

"Yeah, I just got word that something's come up that I need to take care of."

"Is it about Shina?" Sarada asked with hope.

"Maybe, I'm not totally sure. Your dad's looking into something and I'm need to go help him."

"My dad? What's he doing?"

Naruto chose his worlds carefully. "He's on a mission investigating a possible lead. But something's come up and now I need to go help him."

"Is my dad in trouble?! Maybe I should go with you."

"No! You stay here. I'll be back soon, I promise."

"But—"

"No buts! This is grown up business and the last thing we need right now is one of you kids getting hurt or lost also. Do I make myself clear?"

Sarada slumped her shoulders in defeat. "Hai..."

"Good." Naruto came over to his goddaughter and put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, cheer up, everything's going to be fine. I'll be back soon with your dad and Shinachiku's going to turn up. You just need to be patient, and be strong."

Sarada looked at her godfather in wonder. Such simple words and such a simple smile, but every time he talked to her like that he always managed to make her feel so calm, at peace, happy even. "...Okay, if you say so."

Naruto smiled and stood back up. "Take care of yourselves kids, I'll be back."

With that, he finally headed out the door. Taking a deep breath, he walked the path through the front lawn and out the front gate, closing and locking it behind him. Then, taking a deep breath, he made a familiar hand sign.

"SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

An identical copy of himself appeared, one that shared all of his memories of everything that has happened in the last few minutes, and therefore, a better replacement to cover for him while he was away than his current shadow clone was.

"Go to the Academy and take over for the other me," he ordered his clone. "If anything comes up, make up whatever excuses you have to. We can't let too many people know I'm gone, especially not the Elders."

"What about Shikamaru?" the clone asked.

"...Okay fine, he's bound to figure it out no matter what. But nobody else! Got it!"

"Got it!" The clone immediately took off for the Academy, leaving Naruto to go in the other direction. Choosing to cut through the woods surrounding his estate instead of officially passing through the village gate.

Little did he know that a certain toad sage was watching his every move from behind the bushes, taking notes of everything his former student was doing. 'What are you up to this time kid?"

* * *

Well, there you have it! Another chapter is in the can, and it looks like we are setting up for quite a showdown.

Like I said, it took a while to figure out how to structure this one, but I did know that I wanted to put Shinachiku and Boruto's story arc in the future on hold for a bit to focus on the present. Yes, a new chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure" and the title character isn't even in it. But the good is that we do get a lot of Naruto and Sasuke action!

Yeah, I never really did a chapter of anything that really felt like a Naruto and Sasuke chapter. I had chapters in "Shinachiku's First Adventure" where they were a heavy focus and went into battle together, but not a chapter just about them specifically, so putting them on this off-the-books mission together seemed like a good way to do that.

Furthermore, I wanted another chance to show off Sugure more, namely how good of a strategist he is and to tease just how much of an edge he has over even Naruto and Sasuke. He's fast enough to strangle Sasuke before he can activate his Mangekyō. Think about that! Superman indeed.

In speaking of that scene, the dialogue they share as Sasuke holds his weapon to him in the cargo car is directly based on an awesome confrontation between Bones and Khan in the classic Star Trek episode "Space Seed." In that episode, Khan pretends to still be asleep and steals a bladed medical instrument to threaten Bones to tell him where he is. Bones just calmly tells him off the same way Sugure does here, and Khan, like Sasuke, backs off from being impressed at his bravery. The scene, I thought, was an awesome, and understated, way to demonstrate Sugure's own courage and thus make him that much more of a worthy enemy. How do you beat a superior being that has the courage to outright dare you to try and kill him? What does a character like that have to loose?

On top of all that, I also wanted to make Sugure more than just a two-dimensional villain by allowing him some sly moments of humor, hence his mocking of Naruto ans Sasuke for the complex nature of their relationship (no offense NaruSasu shippers).

Also, what is it with me and exploding trains? Seriously, this is the second train accident Sugure has caused in this story alone? Funny how things work out, isn't it?

The other big scene with the real Naruto back at the house was pretty straight forward. I wanted to make it as emotional and foreboding as I could, but I do worry that it might have gotten a bit repetitive. Not having Naruto say something to each member of his family before he leaves just didn't feel right to me, but as I said, it might have had an unfortunate consequence. I'll let you be the judge.

By the way, Naruto remembering that Shinachiku dressed up as Goku is a callback to another fanfic of mine, "An Uzumaki Family Halloween." He remembers this while we learn that Hanami has a Sailor Moon doll she like to play with. Keep that in mind for later on...

As for the ending, I'm not sure why I decided to have Jiraiya spy on Naruto as he was leaving, other than it felt right. It is definitely something that could be useful going forward.

I think that's all I have for today. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and I look forward to having you all come back for the net one.

Until next time, see ya!


	23. Chapter 23--NarutoSasuke vs Sugure I

Hello everyone, thesaiyanjedi back again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!"

I know, I know, it has been a couple of months since I last updated, and I apologize profusely for that. It comes down to a mix of real life issues getting in the way, exhaustion killing motivation for me, and also some straight up writer's block. That being said, I wanted to give all of you something really cool for this latest chapter, and I hope all of you are satisfied with it.

With that said, lets get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 23: Naruto and Sasuke vs. Sugure, Part I**

Gaara was sitting at his desk typing furiously away at his computer. He had just finished at least thirty different important forms for one day alone and had sat through three different meetings, but if he was bored, no one would be able to tell from his expression alone. How could they, he was Gaara of the Desert, the man rarely ever emotes about anything anyway.

Make no mistake though, the former jinchūriki was deathly worried. Something in his gut made him feel terribly uneasy, like something was terribly, terribly wrong. And he not the slightest idea why. He hadn't felt this way since...well, since the day his wife passed away...

 _POOF!_

A sudden sound and a puff of smoke appeared in the room out of nowhere, revealing a familiar blonde haired man wearing an orange sweatshirt. Gaara casually looked up.

"I didn't expect to see you today."

"Sorry for not calling ahead," the blonde said. "I needed to be extra sneaky."

Putting his computer on screen saver, the Kazekage stood up from his desk and walked over to his friend. "I haven't heard form you since the trial. How are you holding up?"

"I have much more important things on my mind right now."

"More important than putting a Taka leader behind bars?"

"Much more important."

Gaara was intrigued. Crushing Taka had been an obsession of Naruto's since they defeated Uragi last year. For something to be more important to him than that...this must be something personal.

"Why are you here Naruto?"

"I needed to sneak out of Konoha without anyone seeing me, so I decided to use that kunai marker you let me plant in your office last year in case of emergency."

"Hmm...I assumed that would be of use to you one day. But why now?"

"Sasuke's in trouble and he needs my help."

"What else is new?"

Naruto scowled. "Very funny. I sent him on a top secret mission and he was ambushed in a village between Konoha and Iwa. Kurotsuchi wouldn't let me set up a marker, you did."

"I see. Mind filling me in on what this is about?"

Naruto paused, his aura changing to cold and serious. "Gaara...Shinachiku's missing."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know. He just...disappeared. Nobody on his team knows where he is and the only lead I have is this mysterious guy I met in the village that I sent Sasuke to keep tabs on."

Gaara felt a cold shiver run down his spine at the mention of Shina's team. "Naruto...did you speak to Sunako about this?"

"Huh? No, The only ones that came with him back to Konoha were Sarada, Mitsuki and that Muon kid."

"Where is my daughter then?"

"I don't know. Probably at their team's headquarters in the Land of Iron. Why?"

"..."

"Buddy?"

"Go. Start moving towards wherever Sasuke is. I won't tell anyone you were here."

"...Thanks Gaara." Naruto walked over to the window and opened it, about to leap out.

"Naruto."

The blonde turned his head back. "Hmm?"

Gaara paused for just a moment before speaking. "Good luck. I hope you find Sasuke...and your son."

Naruto smiled. "Domo." With that, he leaped out of the window and started running across the rooftops of Suna towards the village gate.

Back inside his office, Gaara shut he window and sat back down in his chair. His mind was deep in thought, his blood running cold with suspicion. Something was off, he knew it, and he knew that his mind would not be at peace until he got some certainty. That is why Gaara picked up his phone and made a call.

"Hello?"

"This is the Kazekage. Am I speaking to a samurai from the Land of Iron?"

"H-Hai my lord. How may I be of service?"

"I want to sent a message to your master. I want you to sent a messenger to the base of the Chakra Gem Recovery Squad. I need to know the status of my daughter...

* * *

Naruto was out of the village soon enough and was running across the desert at top speed. For most shinobi this would be a problem as the sheer exhaustion of running across the hot sands so fast would quickly wear a ninja out. That was part of the Sand Village's key defenses after all. But Naruto was no mere ninja, with inhuman reserves of chakra and incredible speed. The only real threat he needed to worry about was dehydration, and he was going to fill up on water as soon as he got to the nearest village.

None of that was important anyway. He was going to. get to that village and meet up with Sasuke, and together, they were going to take care of this son of a bitch. No matter the cost.

To any passers by, they could hardly even see a person run past them, only a giant wave of dust and sand zoom past.

'Just hang in there Sasuke...Shina...I'm coming...'

...

...

...

* * *

...

...

...

Sasuke had been in bed for a whole day now, and he had already gotten sick and tired of it. If he had it his way, he would have been out of here as soon as he woke up, but the hospital staff refused to let him go until he was fully cleared for departure.

So he sat there in his hospital bed, his arms folded, his mind deep in recollection. Every beat of the battle with the man in white playing over and over again. He recalled everything: the trap laid for him in the train, his speed, his strength, the massacre he'd done to those shinobi, the ease at which he defeated both himself and Naruto's shadow clone. His fist's clenched in frustration. 'Damn...'

Suddenly, the door to his room opened. "Excuse me Sasuke, you have a visitor."

The Uchiha turned to the door to see someone follow the nurse inside the room. Low and behold, it was exactly the man who got him into this mess in the first place. That stupid smile of his, sweet Sage, there were times where all he wanted was to sock that blonde idiot right in the jaw!

"Hey dobe."

"Hey duck butt."

The nurse glanced awkwardly back and forth at the two men before sighing aloud and ignoring it. "Will you be requiring anything else Lord Hokage?"

"No thank you, we'll be fine."

The nurse closed the door on her way out, leaving the two of them alone. Naruto was the first to speak. "I'm glad to see you're alright."

"You call this alright?"

"I was worried in might have been far worse."

Sasuke paused before speaking again. "Your shadow clone, it filled you in on what happened?"

"Yeah...I'm sorry for getting you into this."

"You know," Sasuke said, "most kage don't apologize for a direct order they've given their shinobi...Good thing for me that you're not like most kage."

Sasuke merely smirked, while Naruto actually laughed out loud...But then the tone got dead serious again as the two then just stood there not saying anything.

"..."

"..."

Sasuke finally broke the ice. "I assume you left another clone back in the village while you came to see me in person?"

"Yep."

"So the Elders don't know you're here?"

"Nope. Shikamaru will figure it out soon enough, but he'll keep his mouth shut."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What about Sakura?"

"...Yeah, she knows." Naruto decided it was time to get to business. "Have they told you if you can leave here?"

"Not until they give me the all clear."

"And what do you think?"

"I think I'm ready to go whenever you are."

"I'm glad you think so, because I already paid for your release."

Sasuke smirked again. "Good thing, now I don't have to threaten you."

The blonde didn't answer verbally, but instead he opened the door and waved his arm in and 'Come on' gesture. The Uchiha threw the bed sheets off and quickly got dressed, gathering all of his gear.

"They didn't confiscate your weapons when they brought you in here?"

"Of course they did, but I persuaded them to give them back."

Naruto didn't prod any deeper, but he did take note of something that was missing, shouted in surprise. "Sasuke, where's your sword?"

"He took it."

"That's messed up."

"No shit."

...

As soon as Sasuke signed the release forms, the two of them exited the hospital and started walking towards the edge of the village.

"Naruto," Sasuke said, "we both know we can't just go back to the Leaf Village, not after what we've both seen that guy do."

Naruto nodded. "That's why I came here in person, so that this time we can take this guy on together. And now that we've seen him fight, we should be better prepared this time."

"You really think it's that simple?"

"I'm not sure what to think anymore. All I know is that this Sugure guy knows something about where Shina is, and I'll beat the utter crap out of him unless he talks!"

"Sugure?"

"Yeah, that's his name, Sugure Mashita...Wait, did I forget to tell you that?"

Sasuke stopped walking. "I'm starting to think you aren't telling me a lot of things. And I'm not taking another step until you come clean with me."

Naruto stopped himself staring down his best friend. Those piercing black eyes stared back at his cerulean ones. If there was one thing Naruto knew about Sasuke, it's that when he had his mind firmly set on something, there was absolutely nothing that would sway him.

That's why the Seventh Hokage signed. "Okay, here's the deal..."

* * *

'Man, where's Shizune when I need her? This part of the job is so troublesome.'

Shikamaru was carrying a stack of paperwork, a heavy stack too. Climbing the stairs up to the Hokage's office, he knocked on the door with his free hand.

"Naruto, I've got some documents here that need your signature."

"Bring them in."

Opening the door, the Nara clan leader saw his boss and old friend typing something on his computer before adjusting his chair to face him...He also noticed that the window was open.

"Here." He sat the stack of paperwork on the Hokage's desk and rested his arms at his side.

"What is it this time?" Naruto asked as he got his pen out.

"These are a detailed outline the Elders have prepared for you. They want you to order internal affairs to release all reports of all Leaf shinobi dismissed of suspected Taka conspiracy for their review."

"What?!"

"That's not all, they're also demanding that you personally prepare a detailed essay regarding our favorite prisoner. Apparently they have some suspicions about how he's been treated this last year."

"That's ridiculous!"

Shikamaru sighed. "They knew you'd think that. That's why they're threatening an injunction if you don't do as they ask."

"WHAT?!"

"They want to lock you out."

Naruto slammed his fist on his desk. "But I'm the Hokage!"

"Hey don't get mad at me, I'm just the messenger."

The blonde held his head in his hand. "Gomen."

Shikamaru looked upon his old friend with pity. "Listen Naruto, I know this must be hard on you."

"I'm fine, thanks."

The Nara frowned. "Is that a fact? Sandosupai escapes justice, you're working in here day and night nonstop, your marriage is strained at the same time you have a baby on the way, and now your son is out there missing, not to mention this Boruto kid who shows up out of nowhere. Sure, you're doing fine."

Naruto looked back in annoyance. "You got a point to all of this?"

"Only that I can see why you took the chance to get out of the village for a while."

The blonde's eyes widened. "W-What are you talking about?"

Shikamaru folded his arms. "I got a tip that Sasuke was sighted at the train station today, and with him a familiar man with blonde hair and an orange sweatshirt."

"Coincidence."

The Nara actually got irritated. "Don't treat me like an idiot Naruto!"

The shadow clone sighed and got out of his chair. "What gave it away?"

"Common sense, deductive reasoning, and that you forgot to close the window your shadow clone obviously came in through."

Naruto closed the door. "I knew you'd figure it out sooner or later. But Shikamaru—"

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed, but you can at least fill me in on what's going on. Where are you and Sasuke going? And why the hell are you leaving while Shinachiku's still missing and that Boruto kid is still a liability?"

The shadow clone paused for a moment, gathering his words, then his glanced towards the door. Shikamaru got the message and made sure it was locked.

"SILENCING JUTSU!"

With their privacy secure, the shadow clone and his creator's adviser were all alone. "Alright, here's what's up..."

* * *

Naruto landed hard on the concrete, his right now sporting a huge red bruise. Sasuke was looming over him with his teeth gritted and his knuckles cracking.

"You bastard!" The Uchiha yelled. "Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I..I didn't want you to be worried."

"It's my daughter you idiot! Somebody messes with her memory and you hide it from me?!"

"I...I didn't..."

Sasuke didn't let him finish, instead picking him up by his shirt and glaring at his with disgust. "Since when does Naruto Uzumaki keep secrets from his friends? Huh?! What else are you hiding from me?! HUH?!"

Naruto had nothing to say. Nothing at all. Disgusted, Sasuke furiously threw his friend to the ground again.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"..."

"The Naruto I know might be a dobe, but he would never act like this! The same man who constantly risked everything past sanity just to keep me from going down the wrong path wouldn't also hide the truth from me about me own daughter! He wouldn't choose to spend his nights at work instead of with his own family. He wouldn't let the circle of hatred consume him and drive all of his choices as Hokage!"

Naruto stood up defiantly. "I'm not!"

"Yes you are! All those ninja whose careers and families you've ruined with your IA investigations! The fit you threw when Sandosupai walked!"

"I'm trying to weed out Taka!"

"You're obsessed Naruto! You're letting your hatred for them overtake you!"

Naruto laughed maliciously. "HAHAHA! Who are you to judge me for giving into hatred Sasuke?"

"There's a difference."

"Oh yeah, and what's that?"

"Because you're the one of us who is supposed to know better. Or was Uragi right? Are you really not the child of prophecy after all?"

There was a very long, awkward pause that passed between the two of them. Naruto struggled to find something to say, while Sasuke just waited to hear something, anything.

"..."

"..."

"I'm sorry about Sarada."

"Anything else?"

"...No."

The Uchiha turned his back to the blonde. "Think back to the old you Naruto, that idiot who always went on about becoming Hokage some day. If that boy cold see you now...would he think you even deserved to be Hokage?"

"..."

Sasuke sighed out loud. "You know, part of me wants to just leave you here. But like we agree, its going to take both of us to take this Sugure guy down. So why don't we just cut to the chase and get flying?"

"Flying?"

Sasuke bit his thumb. "No chance I'm taking the train again." He slammed his palm onto the ground. "SUMMONING JUTSU!"

In a puff of smoke, a giant brown hawk appeared and extended it's wings while letting out a loud screech.

Naruto was beside himself. "I forgot you had a contract with the hawks."

Sasuke didn't acknowledge his old teammate's comment and instead spoke directly to his summon. "Garuda, I need you to take us into the sky with you. The Seventh Hokage and myself are pursuing a dangerous criminal that must be found before its too late."

The hawk crouched down and folded it's wings, allowing both men to climb onto her back. With word from the Uchiha, Garuda flapped it's wings and took off into the sky in search of it's prey.

* * *

Over the woodlands between the village and Kumogakure, a large bird of prey could been seen soaring through the sky, it's eyes gazing down stalking it's target. but this time the prey was not for it's next meal, but for the two men riding upon her back.

"Can you sense him?" Sasuke asked coldly.

Naruto kept him eyes closed and focused. "Its difficult. This guy's chakra feels hard to track, as are his emotions."

The Uchiha said nothing and continued looking forward. Naruto kept his eyes closed and focused. The cool air breezed around them as they kept searching.

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes snapped open, revealing them to have turned yellow with orange pigmentation, his irises resembling a toad's. "There!"

"Garuda! Dive!"

The hawk obeyed it's master and flew downwards towards it's target. They could see a lone figure in a white cloak running through the forest, his speed impressing even them.

Naruto made an all too familiar hand seal. "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"

Five puffs of smoke appeared from which emerged five identical clones of the Seventh Hokage. Without a word, they all leaped off of the hawk's back and scattered throughout the forest. The two men made only brief eye contact as they neared their target.

The man in white have now reached the edge of the forest, crossing it and into the barren, rocky plains. He stopped, sensing two familiar chakras above him. Smiling under his hood, he looked up and saw Uzumaki and Uchiha descending from the sky, a large bird circling overhead as it let out a shriek.

The two landed in front of their enemy. The breeze blowing their clothes lightly as their eyes locked on, ready to go in for their critical strike.

"I expected the two of you would catch up to me eventually." Sugure said. "You both have a reputation for stubbornness after all. I can tell that I am speaking the real you this time Naruto. Pleasure to meet your acquaintance again." The blonde just continued glaring. "Sasuke, I hope you've healed properly after our last encounter. How is your stomach feeling?" Sasuke merely glared as well. "So, what can I do for you gentlemen?"

"We've come to arrest you for your crimes," Naruto said.

"Is that all?"

The bastard was goading him, he knew that, but Naruto answered him anyway. "What have you done with my son?!"

Sugure actually seems slightly surprise, as if he himself had momentarily forgotten. "Oh, that. Yes, terrible thing really. Quite a surprise even to me."

"What have you done with him?"

"I didn't kill him, if that's what you're assuming. Your son has simply...disappeared."

Naruto was in no mood for this. "Don't you bullshit me! Where are you hiding him?!"

"You misunderstand. I'm afraid your boy had _literally_ disappeared. I encountered him and his team back in Konoha and for reasons unknown even to me, your son simply vanished without a trace, almost like he never existed at all."

Naruto's blood ran cold as ice. His mouth hung open in horror. He stammered. He could practically see it right now, the image of his only son disappearing right in front of him...

"What did you do with the rest of his team?" Sasuke asked that question, pretending to be all business, but in truth masking his anger at learning his godson's fate.

"I couldn't let anybody get wind of my presence in the village just yet, so I was forced to use a tiger seal jutsu to erase the memories of all three of the children." Sugure noticed Sasuke subtly clenching his bandaged left fist in anger. "Nothing personal gentlemen."

"Who are you?"

Sugure chuckled at the Uchiha's question. "Wouldn't you like to know."

He reached for the hood of his cloak and pulled it down...and both men were shocked at that they saw. They saw themselves, both of themselves in the man's face. That bone structure, that black and blonde tipped hair with the bangs over his eye, the exposed one revealing them to be blue with onyx pupils. and those cheeks, upon each were those markings that the whole world knew so well.

"Surprised?" Sugure asked casually, running his hand through his hair. "I'd be disappointed if you weren't."

"You..." Sasuke got his composure back, "you're the one who caused that train accident near our borders a few days ago, aren't you?"

"Oh, and how did you come to that conclusion?"

"I interrogated the only survivor of that accident, a traumatized girl. She claimed it was caused by a group of ninja in multi-colored robes and that their leader's face somehow resembled both mine and Naruto's."

The man in white smirked. "Fascinating. I suppose its good for her that she survived, even if she's yet another imperfect specimen filling up this poor, flawed planet."

" _Imperfect specimen_? She's a human being!"

"She could be better...They all can be better."

Naruto finally got his own composure back. "Alright I'm done with this. You're going to come with us now, because it's **us!** You're going to answer for all those people you killed and you're going to tell me how to find my son! Understand?!"

The man in white got himself into a simple, relaxed fighting stance, as if he was putting in no effort at all. "Your move."

"AAAGGHH!"

"Naruto! Wait!"

It was too late. The Seventh Hokage was overcome with rage and charged at full speed at his target. He flung his infamous left hook but the stranger caught the punch and easily twisted his fist in his palm, straining his muscles.

"AGH" Naruto grunted, but would not let himself fall to his knees. He threw his other fist, but his enemy caught that attack also, putting enough fore into his grip to fracture bones in his hand.

Using his own momentum Naruto flung his enemy over himself, breaking free of his grip. He thrust his leg into Sugure's stomach as he was overhead, kicking him higher into the air. Naruto was quick to counter and leaped even higher than his opponent to slam him leg down upon him for overhead. But Sugure was quick to react to this move and leaped to the side while still in midair.

"What?!"

Doing impressive flips in the air, Sugure quickly found himself over Naruto and ironically landed the very same kick that Naruto had attempted on him. It all happened so quickly that Naruto had no time to properly prepare himself for it, and he came crashing down in a crater.

Sasuke dashed over to his friend. "I told you to wait."

"Shut up," he said as he got back up. "What the hell! It's like he knows my every move before I even make them."

"It wasn't hard to learn."

Both of them looked towards the source of the voice...and they both were in shock. His unusually colored eyes had now turned red, and within them was a familiar black pin wheel.

"So you are an Uchiha?" Naruto concluded.

"Half," he answered back. "My master made me the best of both worlds."

Naruto and Sasuke only shared a very quick glance before Sasuke spoke again, having pieced it all together. There was only one person in the world who could be behind this. "You're Orochimaru's doing, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Naruto reacted in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"Open your eyes dobe. he looks like both of us and he knows how we both fight, he even has my Sharingan. This is just another one of my old master's experiments come to life."

Sugure smirked. "Well deduced, but I've moved beyond your master's plans for me and my comrades."

"Comrades?" Naruto noted. "How many of you are there?"

"Enough to change this world and make it what it truly is meant to be."

Sasuke got offensive. "That sounds like Taka speak to me!"

Sugure laughed. "Is that truly as far as your feeble, imperfect mind goes? Why waste one's own lifetime with merely crippling corrupt governments and outdated shinobi ways when the true problem is mankind?" He noticed Naruto's 'clueless expression compared to Sasuke's...He wasn't buying it.

"So you're some sort of a prophet?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm a visionary. I'm someone who can see the garbage of this world for what it truly is, and I'm the only one who knows what must really be done about it."

"You sound like just another zealot with a god complex. We've both seen enough of those quite frankly."

"Why waste time with backward, un-unified ideals of separate villages and so-called Alliances when one, perfect leader can show humanity the true way and lead them to the one, perfect future?"

"You say perfect. What do—"

"You really are an underrated tactician, Lord Hokage. You let your second in command go on the verbal attack, while you play the imbecile and watch for weakness."

Naruto dropped the act. "No fooling you, I guess. So are you coming with us or not?"

"I don't see why. It's not as though I'm outnumbered here.."

"Why? Because we're not the products of controlled genetics?"

Sugure glared at the man standing before him in a mi of intrigue and annoyance before dropping all pretense. "Naruto Uzumaki, although you abilities intrigue me, you and your Uchiha colleague are, quite honestly, inferior. Mentally, physically. In fact, if I were you, or your fellow kages, I would be ashamed at how little improvement you have made in human evolution. Oh, you have achieved technical advancement and political unity to be sure, but...how little man himself has changed."

Naruto glared at the superman before him, taking in the callousness of his words and how much they had stung him. Sasuke said nothing either, but his and Naruto's minds were remarkably in sync for once.

"Do you have any other questions?" Sugure asked in an arrogant, almost mocking tone.

"No thank you," Naruto said. "They've all been answered...Now I just want to you to shut up and fight."

Sugure shook his head and sighed. "You might not like that."

Assuming a simple fighting stance, his body suddenly glowed golden, taking a form Naruto was all-too familiar with, all the while his Sharingan was still active.

"What?!" Naruto's eyes widened in horror. This bastard somehow activated his own Kurama Mode! But that was impossible! Nobody but Kurama's jinchūriki could have access to that kind of power!

"NARUTO!" Sasuke shouted. "Stay focused!"

"HAI!" Naruto instantly transformed into his own Kurama Mode.

Just like that, the two friends charged straight at the enemy, who made no effort to avoid their assault as he caught their full powered punched in each hand, causing a massive shockwave that triggered a 3.0 earthquake that was felt for miles! Sugure tried the flipping move that he had used on Naruto before, but Sasuke was quick to break free and land a kick that sent him flying several yards.

As he was flying backwards, the two of them gave chase, catching up quickly as Naruto began a flurry of attacks that Sugure was able to dodge every one of. But as soon as Naruto finished one flurry of attacks, Sasuke was immediately there to pick up the slack. Landing an uppercut, Sasuke leaped backward as Naruto tried grabbing his arm and yanking in behind him, so hard that a weaker man might have had their entire arm snap off!

"AAAHH!"

Sasuke came back ad went for Sugure's legs. But Sugure saw the attack coming and leaped over the Uchiha's swooping leg kick, simultaneously flinging Naruto over him as he tumbled and crashed into Sasuke, knocking them both down hard!

Without warning, Sugure sent a swarm of chakra arms out of himself that came after the two leaf ninja from every direction. Eve with their well above average ninja speed, it was still surprising difficult to dodge all of them.

'This guy's no joke,' Naruto thought as he continued dodging the chakra arms, slashing at one with a kunai only for it to reform itself and come after him again.

Sasuke pulled a sly move and leaped on one of the rock that was coming apart out of the ground due to the impacts of the chakra arms and used it to jump while quickly drawing two kunai. Sugure was prepared and knocked him out of the way, sending the weapons flying through the sky. Naruto was quick to catch them himself and bring it slashing down at the man in white covered in golden chakra.

But the attack was blocked by the clanging of steel upon steel. Sugure had drawn a familiar tantō as was seemingly holding back Naruto's twin kunai with little effort.

"Pitiful."

Sugure charged his chakra into his weapon, sending an electrical current running through the length of the blade.

"CHIDORI BLADE!"

He kicked his feet at Naruto's legs sending him backward, but he was suspended in the air by one of his own chakra arms. He only had less than a second to react however when Sugure sent a lightning bolt out of the sword directly at him.

Sasuke leaped in front and blocked the lightning bolt with his own Chidori. "You have something that belongs to me."

"Come and get it then."

Sasuke moved so fast that he practically teleported over to his enemy and thrust his Chidori into his chest...until Sugure grabbed his electrocuting arm and held it up to the sky...and then stabbed him clean through with his own weapon.

 **"SASUKE!"**

Naruto screamed aloud as Sugure yanked the sword out of his body. The Uchiha's blood splattered across the rocky floor. Sasuke could not help but fall to his knees and cough up a large glob of blood.

 **"AAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!"**

There was no holding back Naruto's fury as he went dashed over to Sugure in what seemed like less than a microsecond. Harnessing all of the power of the tailed best sealed within him, he charged at his enemy with his father's signature technique, only of a truly colossal size that even the most powerful ninja in the world would be intimidated by.

 **"ULTRA-BIG BALL RASENGAN!"**

Sugure saw the attack looming over him like a goliath, nay, like a glowing blue moon crashing down from the heavens upon him...but his did not move.

 _ **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

The colossal sphere of chakra crashed down upon the so-called perfect human in an explosion that practically destroyed the rocky plains and the forest beside it, hitting like the wrath of a sage using nature itself to wipe it's foe clean off the map.

Time seemed to come to utter halt as all the dust and debris, both rock and foliage, finished falling down from the sky. In the midst of the obliteration, Sasuke Uchiha was still standing up. Thankfully, the stabbing attack from earlier just barely missed his vital organs. Still, that did not mean he wasn't loosing a lot of blood, or that he didn't hurt like hell.

Naruto, still in his Kurama Mode, landed at his side. "Thank Sage you're all right."

"Ugh!" Sasuke grunted as he stood back up. "I wouldn't say that." He looked at all that was around him. "Got a little carried away, no?"

Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Whatever it takes for a friend. You sure you can still fight."

"I've been dead before, and I lost my entire arm once. Its going to take a lot more than this to stop me."

The dust from the last attack cleared just enough to reveal that, low and behold, there was Sugure Mashita, standing upright and showing no signs of damage whatsoever. Looking back at his two opponents, unimpressed, he merely reached across to his right shoulder and wiped off some stray dust.

"Did you really think that would be enough to defeat me?" he asked.

Naruro smirked. "I was kinda hoping for it. but on the off chance I might have been wrong..." He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers...Nothing happened. Confused, he snapped them again, and again.

"What the...?"

"What the hell dobe?" Sasuke questioned impatiently. "I don't sense any difference. You did tell then didn't you?"

"Of course I did. They know what to do once I snap my fingers. I don't know why—" Naruto stopped as a wave of explanation came flooding back to him. "Oh crap!"

"What?"

"He knew."

"What?"

"The shadow clones. He knew."

"How?!"

Sugure himself interrupted. "Did you really think I wouldn't be able to predict one of Naruto Uzumaki's most well trodden battle strategies? I expected that you would create spare shadow clones to hide for the sole purpose of gathering natural energy. so I made dozens of shadow clones of my own to overpower and immobilize them. I only kept them alive until just now so you wouldn't be away of their passing until after it was too late. And based on your reaction, I'd say that the knowledge of their experience is hitting you right now."

Naruto shook his head in annoyance. "Whatever. I wasn't signaling those shadow clones anyway."

Sugure seemed genuinely confused. "What did you say?"

"Those clones were just a decoy to hopefully throw you off, which they did. I left five more shadow clones back in the village where we last saw you, far enough away where you'd never notice them. They're the ones I was signaling to—Oh wait, here it comes. Better late than never."

Suddenly, Naruto's eyes changed shape. Instead of cerulean blue they were now a goldish yellow color, and his pupils changed from round black irises to small black lines in the center. Around the outside of his eyes themselves were pronounced orange markings. This combined with his still active Kurama Mode, meant that he was now in his super powerful Kurama Sage Mode.

He didn't say anything as the first thing he did in this form was share some of his chakra with Sasuke, which quickly went to work healing his wound.

"You're welcome," Naruto said, in case his friend didn't say 'thank you' first. Sasuke merely smiled.

As they both turned back to their surprised and slightly irritated opponent, they could hear him dismiss this development. "Clearly, I admit, but do you still think that the two of you alone are enough to beat me?"

Naruto smirked. "Yeah about that...I might have went a little overboard on the shadow clones... _Now guys!_ "

Out of the dust came a massive wave of what looked like at least a hundred Naruto clones, probably several hundred, all of whom were also in Kurama Sage Mode and all of whom were holding a Rasengan in their palms. Their jutsu's all simultaneously expanded to gigantic size, creating a true sight to behold: hundreds of Big Ball Rasengans all lighting up the sky in a glowing cluster of blue light. It was a sight that would scare even the Nine-Tails himself!

 **"SAGE ART: MASSIVE RASENGAN BARRAGE!"**

...

...

 _ **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!**_

All of the shadow clones landed their techniques as one, causing a truly colossal explosion that the turned the already ruined landscape around them and now turned it into a barren wasteland! Mountains were destroyed, the forest was obliterated, lakes were dried up, and the cloud cover was so think with black overcast that it was as though the day had turned to night instantly.

All of the shadow clones gave their lives in the explosion, but that was alright with them. They all knew that their sacrifice was for the greater good of ending a monster. Besides, even if this guy could survive one Big Ball Rasengan without a scratch, if a tailed beast could be hurt be such an onslaught, then one man had no chance of making it out alive!

Naruto and Sasuke looked on at the immensity of the scene before them, Naruto's chakra shielding them for the sheer power that was just on display.

The Orange Hokage smiled in contentment. 'Shinachiku...this is for you son...'

...

...

And then the dust finally cleared again and to both of their horror, there was indeed a lone man in now tattered white robes, scorched gray from the attack he'd just endured. He was bruised and scuffled up to be sure, but other than that he seemed perfectly fine.

'I-Impossible...' Sasuke was in shock.

'N-No way,' Naruto was at a loss as well. ' _Nobody_ could have survived that!'

Sugure glared at the two of them in a mixture of anger, annoyance, and of all things, admiration. Glancing at his now tattered robes, he callously ripped the top half off of himself to be blown away in the wind, exposing his perfectly ripped, heavily muscled, V-shaped form akin to a god's physic.

"I have to admit, you surprised me. Not an easy thing to accomplish, but I suppose if anyone could achieve such a thing it would be you two."

"How..." Naruto choked out his words, still in disbelief. "How are you still alive?"

"I am perfect, that's how." Sugure smirked. "...That, and I may have been hiding a dirty little secret as well."

Sasuke clenched his fist. "What secret?"

"Let's just say that when Orochimaru created me, he didn't just use your DNA to do it. There was one other..."

All of a sudden, a striking transformation occurred. Sugure's skin grew noticeably paler, almost white, and out of his head suddenly there were two horn like protrusions, almost resembling rabbit ears.

But that was not the part that horrified the two Leaf ninja the most. No, it was what happened to his eyes. For a brief moment, his Sharingan eyes changed color, going from red with black tomoe to simple featureless eyes with white irides with a light shade of lavender. This only last a split second before changing back to his Sharingan again. Still, the two men saw it clearly and were stunned at the revelation.

Both of his Sharingan than changed again, this time turning solid purple with a ripple pattern that spread over each eyeball, and three tomoe on each of it's two innermost circles.

But even that was not the worst part. A vertical opening appeared on his forehead, and within it, a third eye! The eye was red is sclera and irides, with a ripple pattern spreading over the eyeball and nine tomoe.

Naruto and Sasuke were unable to overcome their fear. This was all too much to comprehend. Fighting both of themselves in one person was challenging enough...but _Her_!

Sugure gained a cocky, evil grin. "Now you truly understand, I am _perfection_."

* * *

Holy crap! Shit just got real! Seriously I hope all of you are genuinely shocked by this cliffhanger ending! We have been getting teases at how formidable of an opponent Sugure was for this entire story, but now, finally, we are seeing him reveal his true nature.

That's right, Orochimaru not only used Naruto and Sasuke's DNA to create this character, but his used Kaguya's also! One being made up of the powers from the two main characters of the franchise plus it's most ancient and most powerful villain. But beyond that, Sugure is a character who constantly boasts about how perfect he is, but in the context of the "Naruto" universe, what does perfection really mean? Well, frankly, this is a franchise that has always been written around clans and dōjutsu-Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan. So I started wondering: What if there was a character who was created to have ALL THREE dōjutsu, and was able to shift his eyes form one to the other at will?! That sounds like perfection in the Naruto context, plus add Kaguya's Rinne Sharingan third eye also. And have this character also have plans for the Chakra Gems too. This villains sounds invincible!

Beyond the big twist, I also wanted to put Shinachiku and Boruto on the sidelines this time to stay in the present day to focus mainly on Naruto and Sasuke's friendship. I really wanted to put some strain on that bond and, in a swerve of the classic "Naruto" trope, I wanted it to be Sasuke who has his faith in Naruto really be shaken. All throughout I have been dropping clues that the last year of dealing with Taka may have really compromised Naruto's integrity as Hokage, and here I wanted Sasuke to spell that out. I think I did a pretty good job of that, and I plans for where it ought to lead in the future.

I didn't originally intend to have Gaara or Shikamaru in this chapter, but somehow their inclusion naturally flowed out of the narrative. Besides, we all knew that shadow clone wasn't going to fool Shikamaru for, like, a day, right?

Some of the dialogue between Naruto, Sasuke and Sugure is heavily inspired by dialogue from the classic "Star Trek" episode 'Space Seed.' Sugure himself is heavily inspired by Khan Noonian Singh, so he sees Sasuke and especially Naruto much like Khan views Kirk in that episode, and an intriguing challenge, but ultimately inferior to his genetic superiority.

Much of the fight itself is choreographed similarly to the first part of Naruto and Sasuke's battle against Momoshiki. Even though I am obviously don't consider myself a "Boruto" fan, even I have to admit that fight scene is pretty damn mind-blowing, a testament to how powerful both of them have become by that point in their adult lives.

Sasuke demanding his sword back from Sugure might also have been somewhat inspired by the standoff between Finn and Kylo Ren in "The Force Awakens," where Kylo Ren demands Finn give him his grandfather's lightsaber as he feels it is his by blood. Its a very loose homage, but I was thinking about it in the back of my mind as I wrote it.

I think that's all I have to say for this chapter. Thank you all for your support and your loyalty, and I hope to see you all back again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


	24. Chapter 24-NarutoSasuke vs Sugure II

What's up everybody, thesaiyanjedi back again with the latest chapter of "Shinachiku's Next Adventure!'

Oh boy, this was a tough chapter to write, as we we'll get into later. I think I made this one as epic as I could, but ultimately it's up to all of you, my loyal readers, to let me know if I succeeded or not. I will warn you now that things are going to get pretty heavy in this one. You've been warned.

With that said, let's get to reading!

* * *

 **Chapter 24: Naruto and Sasuke vs. Sugure, Part II**

"Sir, are we sure this is necessary?"

"The master gave us orders, that should be enough for you. Now keep moving."

Wandering through the snow was a team of three samurai from the Land of Iron. They had been given a sudden assignment from their master to visit the headquarters of the Chakra Gem Recover Squad to ascertain the condition of team stationed there, particularly the Kazekage's daughter. None of them fully understood why this was a sudden concern, but as their captain reminded that it was not a samurai's pace to dispute their lord's commands.

Still, even while garbed in their thick armor, the intensity of the blizzard was not exactly making this an ideal assignment.

"Those kids had better have some nice, warm food prepared when we get there," one of the samurai said.

"Stop complaining," the captain commanded. "A samurai serves with honor, he does not complain."

"Hai captain."

And so the three of them walked...and walked...and walked through the snow. Their respirators may be helping them to breath, but the freezing cold and the intense blowing of the snow in front of their visored helmets making it damned difficult to keep moving. Even their captain had to admit to themselves that they might freeze to death if they didn't reach their destination soon.

"Captain!" one of the samurai shouted, pointing ahead of himself. "I think I see it."

There is was, at last. A small, unassuming office building out in the middle of these snow covered lands. This had to be the C.G.R.S.'s headquarters, for their own sake.

"Men!" The captain ordered. "Forward!"

The three of them braved the last few yards of the snow until they at last made it to the front door. The captain turned the handle and was surprised to see it was unlocked.

'Curious. Surely these kids know better than to leave their front door unlocked for just anyone to walk in.'

Turning the doorknob, he opened the door, wiped his feet, and entered, his men happily following behind him. Closing the door, they each removed their helmets, the captain's having horns on it to showcase his seniority.

"Hello?" the captain spoke down the hallway. "Is anyone here?"

They stayed where they were for a moment, and after a while they heard nothing. Just an eerie, dead silence.

"They're probably in their rooms sir," on of the samurai suggested. "We should probably go looking for them."

"Agreed," the captain nodded. "Split up, knock on every door before opening it. Talk to anybody here."

The three of them split apart and started walking down every hallway, knocking on each door before opening. Each room was empty, including all of the children's bedrooms.

It was not until one of the samurai open one specific door that the truth was discovered, and it made the samurai's blood run colder than the blizzard blowing just out the front door.

"CAPTAIN!"

The senior samurai sprinted down the halls towards the sound of his teammate's voice as fast as his heavy armor allowed him the move.

"What is it?" The samurai could say nothing. "Speak man!"

Still getting no answer, the captain looked into the open room himself. What he saw horrified him. There were ten children in that room, all scattered around a large conference table...All of them were dead, killed in the most nasty and disgusting of ways. They were all cut to pieces, their body parts scattered everywhere and their blood staining the walls and all the carpets.

The samurai captain had seen a lot of war, a lot of death...but never to so many children. "Oh Sage..."

The third samurai came running up to them and got a look at the scene himself. He almost vomited at the sight.

The first samurai who found the children was the first to speak. "Who could have done this?"

"I don't know," the captain answered. Gathering himself, he stepped into the room, his men following behind him. "Watch where you step. Mind the dead."

As they inspected the scene of the massacre, they carefully examined all of the victims and concluded that, yes, the Kazekage's daughter was amongst them.

"Someone's going to pay for this!" one of the samurai declared.

"Someone will," the captain agreed. "But right now we have a job to do."

"Do you..." the other samurai started, "Do you suppose that Taka might have been behind this?"

The captain looked around the room and counted the victims, then recalled how many children had been assigned to the squad...and that the door was left unlocked. "I'm not so sure..."

"Captain?"

He turned to one of his teammates. "What is it?"

"I've identified the bodies based on the names in the report. Five of the children are missing, including Shinachiku Uzumaki and Sarada Uchiha."

"Our lord told me about this," the captain explained. "He said that Shinachiku Uzumaki and at least three of his teammates left this base to return to Konoha, he left this one if charge." The captain pointed to the remains of one Shikadai Nara.

"How would our lord know this?"

"He must have been informed by another party."

"Who?"

"Who do you think you fool?! Probably the one who wanted to know if his daughter was still alive!"

There was a long pause as the three of them processed all of this and contemplated what the next, best course of action should be. Eventually, one of them took the initiative. "Sir, we have to call this in."

"Yes," the captain agreed. "Tell them that two thirds of the Chakra Gem Recover Squad have been murdered with only five confirmed survivors. And tell them that one of those survivors is a traitor."

"Traitor?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The captains went on to explain. "Uzumaki takes only four of his teammates with him, leaving the rest. and there is one less person here than there is supposed to be. Need I make it any more clear for you?"

"No sir." The samurai put his helmet back on and turned on the radio inside of it. But as he reported their finding to the high command of he Land of Iron, their captain could not help but get a sick feeling in his stomach. Not from the carnage spread out before him, but because of something else...

Suspicious, he walked over to the table in the middle of the room and looked beneath it. Looking there, he found a small, black box stuck on the underside of the table. There was a small, blinking red light on it, and a timer currently at five and counting down to zero.

Rapidly getting out from under there, he looked towards the ceiling to see a camera set up in the corner.

"GET OUT!" he screamed "GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

The other samurai didn't have tie to respond as their leader frantically tried to push them out of the room and down the hallway...But alas, five seconds was simply too little, too late...

 **BOOOOOOOM!**

The entire building went up in a huge explosion, the ball of fire a striking brightness in the dark, cold landscape of the Land of Iron. The three samurai, and any traces of the poor, unfortunate soul that were found there, were lost...

...

...

...

Aboard a train bound for Konoha, Jōkā was looking at his laptop computer, the feed from the camera going static. He smiled and laughed to himself. Sweet Sage, it was all so hilarious!

"Excuse me sir," one of the stewardesses came up to the young man. "I something wrong? You're laughing is disturbing the other passengers."

He shut his laptop before she could see anything and smiled at her. "No, no ma'am I'm fine. I just saw a really, really funny joke."

* * *

"Now you truly understand, I am _perfection_."

Naruto and Sasuke gawked in terror. This man, this...the _thing_ standing before them. He was no man at all. He was a monster.

'He...He has all three dōjutsu and can shift from one to the other...' Sasuke glared in shock. 'What is the guy?'

'That eye in his forehead...' Naruto could remember it clearly. 'It's...It's like Kaguya's.'

Sugure smirked. "I can tell you're surprised. I suppose I can't blame you. But don't worry, this won't be such a bizarre sight by the time I'm threw."

Naruto was snapped out of his thought at the sound of that statement. "What does he mean by that?"

Suddenly, Sugure raised his hand towards them. "Let's take this somewhere else, shall we?"

Suddenly, the tomoe in his third eye rotated and they both found the terrain around them transform. They both knew what this meant, and both of them tried to rush at their target with a behind attack before he could complete his plan. But it was to know avail, his Rinnegan eyes transformed into Byakugan eyes long enough to see their attack clear as day. He spun his body around and punched them both in the gut simultaneously with the force of a brick wall.

"Foolish."

Grabbing them by their shirts and throwing them into each other, they both fell to the ground as it transformed from the barren forest that they were fighting in until now into a bizarre terrain made up of small pyramid shapes pointing upwards.

Both of them knew where they were immediately, but it was not the environment that had them both worried, even if the pointy ends of those pyramids were indenting themselves into their skin. No, it was the gravity. This was one of Kaguya's dimensions, one that their enemy no doubt was able to access because of his Rinne Sharingan third eye. Both of them were on the ground struggling to stand up, but the sheer amount of force was holding them against the ground like a pressing machine.

"I trained in this place," Sugure told them. "I could hardly move, I could hardly do anything. It was a nightmare. I thought I was going to die so many times. But my hopes, my dreams, my _superiority_ refused to let me give in. And now..." He casually walked over towards them both, with very little drag on his stride whatsoever. "Now I hardly feel a thing."

He kicked at them both again, doing so with enough force to send them crashing into a small hill in the distance, destroying it. The boys were becoming beaten and scarred, the fore of the gravity holding them in place where they fell, momentum refusing to let them roll as they normally would. But adjusting their eyes, Naruto and Sasuke could both see the enemy standing there patiently, as if he were waiting to the see if they could pick themselves up for some more fun.

"UGH!" Naruto groaned out loud as he used his power to stand back up. His Kurama Sage Mode helped him with that, and he needed to give Sasuke a hand to help him back up, something the Uchiha was clearly not happy with.

"We're fighting on his turf now," Sasuke rationed. "Even in you sage form, he has us both at a tactical disadvantage here."

"Oh really, you think?!" Naruto shouted sarcastically.

Ignoring his friend's outburst, Sasuke continued working on a plan. "We might need to overwhelm him with brute force."

"How? I already threw a full on Kurama enhanced Rasengan Barrage at his and it did nothing."

Sasuke closed his eyes in contemplation before answering. "Then I think we both know what you have to do."

Naruto was silent before responding. "I haven't needed to go that far for a long time. Not even against Uragi."

"Uragi wasn't as strong as this guy is."

"He had the power of a god."

"With the chakra gem, yes. But this guy...this guy is something else entirely."

Naruto realized that his friend was right. If they were going to take this guy down, it was going to take everything that he had... _everything_. And so, after making a familiar hand sign, he then closed his eyes and meditated.

'Alright you guys, I need you all. Kurama, please tell me there's still at leas a little bit of their power left inside me now...'

Inside of his mind, Naruto could hear a an all too familiar bellowing voice. **"Just give it a moment kit."**

Naruto meditated for a few moments longer until finally his eyes shot back open and his pupils were now in a cross of vertical fox-slits with horizontal toad-slats with no pigmentation around his eyes. Still in his Kurama Chakra Mode, he eyes themselves turned orange in color. His golden flaming form was also surrounded with a unique pattern of black symbols, with a single golden circle upon his chest.

"No Truth Seeking Balls?" Sasuke asked.

"You know they don't work like that."

"Just wanted to make sure."

Sugure observed this development in a sense of anticipation. 'Fascinating. So he's resorting to that level then. He must of made another shadow clone and has him far away gathering natural energy for him. It's honestly impressive that he still has any of the other tailed beast's chakra inside of him after all this time...'

"SIX PATHS CHAKRA COMPLETE BODY SUSANOO!"

Sasuke focused both his Mangekyō and his Rinnegan and molded his chakra into a colossal purple avatar covered in dark ornate armor and robes and with an tengu-like nose and gigantic wings, wielding duel katanas.

With the Uchiha within the center of it, the Susanoo stretched out it's arm and charged forward. The giant being's arms crackled with lightning that chirped at loud as thunder.

"SUSANOO: CHIDORI!"

The electric attack never made contact as it instead was dodged with a mighty leap from Sugure's comparatively small form. Instead, the jutsu struck the pyramid-laden ground that caused a sparkling crate and sending a shockwave into the green-tinted sky.

"BYAKUGAN!"

Sugure's dōjutsu transformed once again as he summoned the fabled eyes of the Hyga clan. With his virtually flawless vision and ability to pinpoint all points on his opponent's chakra network, he unleashed his next attack.

"RABBIT HAIR NEEDLE!"

Sugure's black and blonde-tipped hair hardened and launched out as a barrage of needles. the barrage was so strong that even the hide of the Susanoo could not hold up against it. With Sasuke still entrapped inside, the Susanoo was pinned in place and open to the superman's next assault.

"EIGHTY GODS VACUUM ATTACK!"

Sugure loaded his chakra into his palm and manifested it into two gigantic chakra fists. Still high in the air from his previous leap, Sugure flew down to on top of the Susanoo with his chakra fist at the ready. Not even the ultimate technique of the Mangekyō could withstand an offensive like this...

"WIND RELEASE: RASENSHURIKEN!"

A familiar spiraling Rasengan of incredible power flew at the superman's head. It came so fast that Sugure had only milliseconds to dodge it before he would have become trapped within it's deadly wind vortex. But Naruto had also created an identical jutsu at that he threw simultaneously at the needles pinning Sasuke's Susanoo in place, freeing him.

As his avatar struggled to get back up, Sasuke thanked his friend with a silent nod, which the blonde returned before both of them looked ahead at their still formidable opponent.

"Sasuke."

"What is it?"

"I'm going to need you to take him on by yourself for a little while."

"And why would I agree to something like that?"

"Because I've got a plan to hopefully end this, and it might take me a little time to get it ready."

"What are you talking about dobe?"

Naruto turned his head and smirked. "Remember the last time we were here, fighting Kaguya?"

Sasuke seems confused at first, until his eyes widened in realization. "You still think you have all of their chakra inside you after all this time?"

"One way to find out."

Sasuke nodded before looking ahead, while Naruto the hung back. The Uchiha leaped forward and landed before his enemy. "You have something that belongs to me."

Sugure reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a scroll that he unsealed quickly, revealing a familiar tomoe that he held at his side. "You mean this? It's a fine blade I admit. But I've seen more impressive."

"A sword is only as mighty as the shinobi who wields it."

"It that case it couldn't be in better hands."

At the seeming speed of a thunderbolt, Sugure dashed to the Uchiha swinging his own blade, which Sasuke, even at his above average speeds, was only able to dodge within milliseconds. Time seemed to move in slow motion as he saw a severed lock of his raven hair fall across his face.

Sasuke hadn't even landed on the ground before Sugure moved in for another strike. This time Sasuke was able to grab a hold of the blade between his hands and held it there.

He smirked. "Got you. CHIDORI!"

He channeled his full powered lightning chakra through the sword and straight into the one that was holding it. Sugure let out an shriek of pain as he got electrocuted but he then pointed his other arms directly at Sasuke as fired it right back.

"AAAAHHHHH!"

Sasuke fell over in a cracking heap as the superman looming over him, sword pressed at his throat drawing a trickle of blood. "Smart trick, but not smart enough."

"Agreed." Sasuke suddenly rolled away from the blade and wiped the blood off of his throat, then slammed his hand down on the ground. "SUMMONING JUTSU!"

In a puff of smoke, an enormous blue snake with light green eyes appeared and nearly crushed the superman with his appearance. Sasuke recovered and leaped on top of the great beast's head.

"You summoned me Lord Sasuke."

"Destroy that bastard Aoda."

Sugure was not intimidated by the giant snake as it moved at great speed towards him, fangs drawn. Instead, he waited until the last possible second and charged the sword with his opponent's own signature jutsu.

"SWORD OF KUSANAGI: CHIDORI KATANA!"

Sugure stabbed the snake in it's upper mouth, causing it to wreath in pain as dozens of lighting bolts scattered from within it's jaws.

"Are you alright Aoda."

"Yes Lord Sasuke. I can heal from this."

The snake said no more as it slammed it's tail down on the enemy, which he dodged causing the pyramid ground to crack instead. But Aoda caught the superman in the air and wrapped it's body around him.

"Any last words?" Sasuke said.

"..."

"Fine." Sasuke's right Mangekyō activated as he prepared his next attack. "AMATERASU!"

A wave of black flames appeared at he focal point of Sasuke's vision. They swarmed upon the enemy like a wildfire with the heat of the fires of hell. But alas, even this was not enough.

The second Sasuke's eye was activated, so too did Sugure change his own dōjutsu to his own Mangekyō and cast his own jutsu. "AMATERASU!"

The two fire release techniques collided in an inferno that lit the entire dimension in a mass of dark light. Sasuke pressed his flames forward, but Sugure did the same with his own of equal or greater strength. Both fighters could feel the intense burn of the other's flames consuming them, and Sasuke know that he could feels the strain in his eyes for pouring so much into the technique.

'I-It's no good...Naruto...hurry up...' Sasuke's eyes felt like they were in agony now, like they were literally crying blood.

"Taste my fury Uchiha! AAAAAHHHH!"

Sugure poured enough chakra into his Mangekyō to overwhelm Sasuke's Amaterasu. Were it not for the quick thinking of Aoda to get them out of there in time, at the expense of great burning to himself, then the Uchiha survivor might be burnt crisp right now.

"Are...Are you alright...Lord Sasuke?"

"Aoda..." Sasuke looked at the severe burns on the snake's body and was awestruck at the creature's loyalty. "Those burns..."

"I can shed my skin...I will recover...Actually...I wanted to burrow us underground but this strange surface—"

"Don't speak old friend. Return to Raichi Cave and rest."

"But my Lord—"

"Do as I say."

"As you wish Lord—Look out!"

The snake panicked when he saw Sugure leaping down upon them both, his Amaterasu still active and now channeled through Sasuke's sword!

SWORD OF KUSANAGI: AMATERASU KATANA!"

The attack with it black hot fury was coming so sudden that the reaction time Sasuke needed to register it was costly. He tried to squelch the flames with his own Mangekyō, but his eyes felt too exhausted. And it was too great a risk to rely on Amenotejikara, not when he still needed a escape plan to get out of this dimension.

It looked like the end...

...Or it would have been, had the flaming blade not been blocked by another, _much_ larger tantō. And holding that giant blade was a huge flippery hand. The hand belonged to a giant orange-red toad wearing a blue jacket and a beaded necklace around it's neck and a large cigarette in it's mouth. Standing atop of the giant toad was Naruto is his Six Paths Chakra Mode, his most powerful form.

"Naruto!"

"Hang in there Sasuke!"

Sugure quickly swung the flaming sword at the Hokage as the Uzumaki patriarch created at least a dozen shadow clones of himself, each of which forming a gigantic Rasengan in there palms.

"Foolish!"

Sugure have no time for any of this. He merely sliced through all of the shadow clones in one go with a swing of the blade, the black flames of Amaterasu burning all of the clones and causing them to dissipate. All that remained was the real Naruto.

"BIG BALL RASENG—AAAAHHHH!"

Sugure quickly stabbed the blade clean through him! Naruto groaned in agony as Sugure just smiled wickedly.

"Farewell Naruto Uzumaki. You and your friend put up a better fight than most."

All of a sudden Naruto stopped groaning and started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Sugure questioned.

"Its called a distraction moron. Surprised a smart guy like you would have figured that out."

Suddenly the "real" Naruto turned into a puff of smoke! He was a shadow clone too. Sugure was taken aback at he deception.

"SUGURE!"

The superman looked up to the sky to the source of the voice. What he saw was the true Naruto. Nine of them in fact! Each of them was holding a familiar looking ninjutsu, but there was something else that seemed different about each one. Something...elemental.

Sugure eyes stared on in horror. 'No! No it can't be! He couldn't be desperate enough to use that! Damn it! How could I be so foolish?!"

Each of the nine Naruto's was wielding a separate Rasenshuriken, but each one had undergone a separate change in chakra nature. One was made up of sand and magnetism, another made of blue flames, another made of water, another made of lava, another made of boil, another made of acidic bubbles resembling soap, another made of ink, and finally one made of wind.

Sasuke smirked as he watched. 'Never thought I see this happen again.'

SAGE ART: SUPER TAILED BEAST RASENSHURIKEN!"

The nine jutsus were thrown all as one. Sugure could only watch as they all came together like nine gods grating him their combined wrath...

...

...

...

 **BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!**

It had been called the most marvelous ninjutsu of all time, and the colossal number of explosions it created certainly justified that reputation. He was clearly devastated by the sheer power of what he was undergoing. Naruto and Sasuke both watched along with their summons as the explosions took their toll. Any adversary who suffered such an assault would be finished.

...Well, almost anyone. When the dust and explosions finally stopped, they saw, to their absolute horror, that Sugure Mashita was still alive!

'W-What...how...?'

'What kind of freak is this guy...?'

That's not to say that the technique didn't leave it's mark though. Quite the opposite. Sugure was cut, burnt, bleeding all over, and breathing heavy. In fact, he was in, by far the worst pain he had ever been in entire life. Even he was impressed that he was still alive.

"Hey!" Sasuke shouted. "What are you?! How can you still be standing after a jutsu like that?!"

Sugure just stood there, taking it all in. I was as though he was trying to find the answer to that question himself. And then he stopped. Instead, he started laughing. Laughing hard, insanely in fact.

 **"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"**

"What so damn funny?!" Naruto demanded impatiently.

Sugure stopped laughing and looked at his two opponents like a deranged madman. "Now I finally see! Now I _fully_ comprehend what Orochimaru meant by perfection. I am so mighty that not even the combined power of all nine of the tailed beasts can destroy me! Don't you see?! I...am... _ **invincible!**_ "

"Oh shut up!"

Naruto wouldn't give in. He used the natural energy he'd gathered to combine it with his Six Paths Chakra Mode manifest his chakra and fully transform himself into a gargantuan shape. Gone was the man that was known as the greatest ninja of his age. In his place was a gigantic glowing orange and yellow form of Kurama himself, all nine tails flailing as the mighty beast snarled at the tiny but powerful foe before him. This wasn't just any form of the Child of Prophecy looming over Sugure now. This was Six Paths Asura-Kurama Sage Mode!

"You've seen what I can survive Uzumaki," Sugure stated bluntly. "What more can you possibly throw at me?"

 **"THIS!"**

The glowing beast brought it's hands together and focused all of it's chakra into a single point. This created a gigantic ball of chakra, a carefully balanced 8:2 ratio of black positive and white negative chakra. The attack grew to be almost twice the size of the avatar itself and was so dense that it crushed the pyramid ground directly beneath his into a crater.

Sugure stood there and stared down the pending attack. This could be serious, he knew that. He would have to time this very carefully.

 **"TAILED BEAST BALL!"**

Naruto fired the colossal ball of chakra at a rapid rate. It was like death was coming for his enemy. Sasuke was standing far enough away to be out of danger, but to his it still appeared that death itself was coming. Surely not even a so-called perfect being would be able to survive something like this...

And he might not have, had he not been fast enough to jump out of the way. The jutsu instead pushed forward until it struck a far away mountain, totally obliterating it.

"Whoa!" Gamakichi said as he covered his eyes with his hands. "That's a lot of power!"

 **"Gamakichi,"** Naruto's form bellowed. **"Above you!"**

The giant toad saw the enemy leaped into the air again and out of range. The amphibian didn't hesitate and leaped even higher into the sky making the proper hand signs. "WATER RELEASE: LIQUID BULLET!"

The blast of water came down upon Sugure who allowed it to wash over him and bring him back to the ground, but he was still hardly hurt.

"ROAR! CHIDORI!"

Sasuke slammed his electrocuted fist into the wet ground that the enemy was standing in, channeling all of the power directly into the enemy's body. The wizened opportunity actually caused some burns on his body. But the sizzling form _still_ stood back up.

By this point, Naruto was seriously starting to run out of breath. He hated to admit it, but this guy really was something else. Even in Six Paths Chakra Mode, he was hardly making any progress. He could take down Pain, Kaguya, Sasuke, even Uragi when he had the power of a god. But _this_ guy?! It was unreal.

'Don't know how much more I have left in me. I may have no choice but to use _that_ jutsu. It's desperate, but I'm running out of ideas here.'

The beast the created two identical shadow clones of itself. The three beasts snarled at the lone man glaring up at them before the two clones merged back into the original. This resulted in a three-faced, six armed construct of the Nine-Tailed Fox. The creature then proceeded to created two gigantic ninjutsu techniques in either of it's trio of arms. In it's right arms, it formed a Rasenshuriken of expanded size, so large that even Gamakichi looking on from the sidelines was dwarfed by it. It it's left arms, it formed a Tailed Beast Ball, one that grew far larger than the one he had just used and with wind nature added to it to create the signature shuriken-like blades of one of Naruto's most infamous ninjutsu. Both of these techniques were infused with natural energy gathered by Kurama himself..

"Amazing," Aoda stated in astonishment.

"Naruto, you really are something kid," Gamakichi smiled at his old friend.

Sasuke didn't say anything, merely allowed his mind to drift back to that day at the Valley of the End where his friend had used this very jutsu to counter his own signature ability.

The Uchiha clenched his fist. 'If this doesn't work, nothing will...

 **"SIX PATHS: ULTRA BIG BALL RASENSHURIKEN!"**

The two massive ninjutsu blasted down to the ground where the enemy stood. When they collided in that spot, it was like a hurricane and class five tornado and typhoon merged into one. Sasuke, Gamakichi, Aoda, all of them needed to take shelter to get away from the collision that struck like a force of nature. In fact, the two jutsus coming together resulted in what looked like a vortex that nearly sucked them all in almost like a black hole.

Sasuke needed to take shelter inside of Aoda's mouth, while Aoda himself had to be painfully pinned down to the ground by Gamakichi's blade. The toad himself needed to hold onto his weapon with all of his strength or risk being sucked into the vortex.

Naruto, or rather the beast that was supposed to be Naruto, was the only one seemingly not affected by the collision. He merely glared at the chaos he had just unleashed and stared at the explosion sight.

It took what felt like forever for the vortex and the explosions and the hurricane winds to finally die down. When it did, Gamakichi extracted his blade from his snake comrade, apologizing sheepishly for it. Aoda accepted that apology, and opened it's mouth to let it's master back outside.

Sasuke looked upon the scene of this strange dimension and focused all around him. He could not see any sign of Sugure anywhere, but he did see the looming figure of Naruto's Kurama avatar...the one that was now dissipating and leaving his friend to fall to the ground.

Rushing at top speed, Sasuke caught his friend and Hokage before his could hit the spiky ground. Naruto appeared unconscious, and his Kurama Saga Mode was totally gone. That last attack must have drained him of what chakra he had left. And frankly, Sasuke was feeling really exhausted himself, and he needed to conserve the chakra he had left to get out of this place.

"Hey dobe," Sasuke said.

"Hey duck butt," he said back. He stood up and looked around for himself, breathing heavily.

"Can you sense him?" Sasuek asked.

"...I don't think so. I think..." Naruto smirked. "I think that might have done it."

Sasuke looked at the scene of the collision is suspicion. Something about all of this just seemed too...easy.

"Naruto," he said, "are you ready to get out of here?"

"Yeah, lets go."

Turning around, Sasuke focused his Rinnegan and opened a dark spiraling portal. Access to this space-time dōjutsu was one of the greatest gifts that his Rinnegan had bestowed upon him. At least that was one talent that Naruto could never duplicate.

The two men and their summons, all tired and battle weary, stepped through the portal and when the emerged from the dark void they were back in the real world. Back where this battle first started as a matter of fact.

"Aoda," Sasuke addressed his summon, "you have served me well old friend. Go back to Raichi Cave and heal yourself."

"Gamakichi," Naruto said to his toad brother, "Thank you for everything. Now head back to Mount Myōboku and let them know what happened. Oh, and say high to your old man for me too."

The toad chuckled and bumped fist with his friend. "Anytime Naruto." He then puffed away back to his home.

"It was my honor, Lord Sasuke," Aoda said in respect before puffing away himself, leaving the two men alone.

"So what now?" Sasuke asked. "We still don't know what happened to your son." He then narrowed his eyes. "And there's also the issue of my daughter."

Naruto paused for a moment before speaking. "Sasuke, I—"

But almost as soon as he spoke, he stopped again. He threw his head around so fast that his neck might have snapped.

"What is it?"

Naruto was frozen in shock. It...it just couldn't be. But wait...maybe it could. Sasuke looked where Naruto was and his mind raced with the same thoughts...and the same fears. A blockly black void opened up in their location. Out of that void emerged none other than one Sugure Machita, looking no different than the last time they saw him.

Sasuke knew right away what this meant and how this could possibly be. 'Damn! Yomotsu Hirasaka. He must be able to use it because of Kaguya's kekkei mōra.'

"You came close," Sugure said, "I have to give you credit for that. But I think we both know that this is just about over."

The two Leaf ninja stood their ground, but they both knew he was right. They had both fought this uphill battle for so long now and they were exhausted. By now virtually all of their chakra reserves were used up, they had nothing left, not even for a shadow clone. Nothing...except their brains and their fists.

"Sasuke, this is our last chance."

"You really think we can?"

"It doesn't matter. This guy is a threat to the entire world. We end this...whatever it takes."

Sasuke got a sudden cold shiver, some bad omen. But he knew that Naruto was right. "Whatever it takes."

Bumping fists, the two friends charged full speed at the enemy, fists drawn. Sugure effortlessly blocked both of them with his hands, clamping down on them in a vice grip. It synchronized timing, they both kick his knees at the same time, causing him to loosen his grip and get free. Sasuke swung at his legs while Naruto delivered a left hook down on top of his head. Sasuke then grabbed the superman by the leg and spun him around for Naruto to deliver a falcon punch into the ground.

Sugure got back up and got Sasuke's sword back out. Charging back at them, he aimed at Naruto, only for the jinchūriki to catch the blade in his hands. The sheer strength with which the enemy was pressing the sword was cutting into his flesh, but the tired Kurama was working all he cold to heal him.

Sasuke came behind him then, kunai drawn. He tried to stab Sugure in the back, but his Byakugan's field of vision made sneaking up on him damn near impossible. So instead, he used his other arm to reach behind him and get a death grip on the Uchiha's throat.

"GAH!"

"Fool."

In a blink and you miss move, Sugure head butted Naruto, forcing him to let go of the sword, then flips the blade around to gut Sasuke with his own blade...only for Sasuke to catch it with his legs! Sasuke snapped the blade with his feet and tried to fling half of it at the enemy's head. At that close range it might have worked, had Sugure not used his Yomotsu Hirasaka once again.

He reappeared closer to Naruto, where the blunt end of the blade had landed. Just as soon as he reappeared to pick up the blade, he disappeared again. When he appeared again, it was directly in front of Naruto, who has a millisecond to react by catching the blade at his throat. Reaching into his ninja pouch, his pulled out a kunai and jammed it into his shoulder, giving him just enough space to kick him away before coming in for another swing. Metal clashed with metal before Naruto did a handstand flip that caught his arm in a scissor trap before slipping him over and pinning him.

"It's over Sugure!"

"Perhaps."

Sugure kneed Naruto in the gut before disappearing again. Sasuke was coming over aid in the fight, but turned rapidly in preparation of Sugure appearing behind. He was correct, but still to late. He caught his fist and then his leg as he attempted a kick.

"Weak."

 _CRACK!_

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Sasuke fell to the ground as his leg was broken.

 **"SASUKEEEEEEEEE!"**

Naruto charged with fury to avenge his friend. The punched and kicks between the two were so fast and had such fineness that even Sasuke's tired eyes were having to work to keep their movements in focus.

Sugure dodged Naruto latest punch and used that opening to try and stab him with the sword once more, only this time Naruto was ready and finally grabbed and wrestled the blade from his hands altogether...

...But that was precisely what Sugure wanted as he slammed him palm right up against Naruto's chest...

...

...

...

 _SNIKT!_

Naruto's gulped as he felt it. A pierce stabbing straight through his heart.

With his leg broken, Sasuke could do nothing but watch in horror. Sugure had used yet another of Kaguya's deadly abilities. He'd hardened his bones and protruded one through his hand like a spear...and spear that went straight through Naruto's body like a shish kabob.

 **"NARUTOOOOOOOOOO!"**

The Orange Hokage could feel himself getting weak, the blood draining from his veins as some more of it coughed up in his mouth, almost chocking him...Not that it would have made much difference now.

Naruto could see the light getting closer. He could almost touch it...But something was coming into his view. It was...it was ash.

Straining to look down, he saw where that ash was coming from...Himself.

"You have my respect Uzumaki," Sugure told him. "I want you to know that when I'm done, the human race will reach the perfection it was always meant to." He leaned in close to his ear. "I'll make sure they remember you."

He turned to the fallen Uchiha and marched himself and his victim, still skewed on his bone, over to him. He coldly retracted his bone back into his hand, allowing Naruto's graying, flaking body to collapse right next to him.

Sasuke didn't waste an instant. He crawled over to his friend and cradled him. Sugure didn't say anything more. His point had been made, and he had much bigger fish to fry. And so, he just walked away, leaving his two of them to their misery.

"Naruto! NARUTO! _**NARUTO!**_ "

The blonde faintly opened his heavy eyelids to smile at his best friend. "Not so loud duck butt."

"Don't you die on me you bastard! Don't you dare leave us! Let the Nine-Tails heal you!"

"...I...I don't think that's gonna happen this time buddy."

Naruto's heart might have been pierced, but Sasuke's was broken. The ash continued to flake off and float away, and he knew that it was already over.

"W-What's...what's it like?" Sasuke clenched his friend hand as he continued trying to speak. "What's it like? Dieing?"

Sasuke was at a loss for what to say. So all he could do was to tell him the truth. "Like drifting off to sleep."

Naruto chuckled. "That sounds nice."

"But it doesn't matter Naruto! You're going to live damn it! You're going to grow old with Sakura and raise your daughter. You're going to find you son, you're going to have grandkids. You're—"

"Sasuke." The Uchiha stopped as he felt his friend's grip tighten. "It's going to be okay."

Sasuke was sniffling. How could he help it? Of all the loss, all the pain, all the tragedy that had defined his life for so long...this was by far the worst.

"S-Sasuke..." The Uchiha listened to his brother talk again. "I'm sorry...For everything..."

He choked back a sob. "It doesn't matter anymore...dobe."

"I...I want you to promise me something...P-Promise me...promise me you'll find Shina...Promise me you'll take care of Hanami...Promise me you'll look out for my wife...The village...Everyone..."

...

...

"...I promise."

He smiled ad laid his head back, looking up at the sky. Sasuke couldn't remember the last time he had seen his friend so at peace.

One word. One final word left his lips as eyes closed. "Sakura..."

...

...

And like that his form finally crumbled apart and floated into the wind. Naruto Uzumaki, Hero of the World, the Child of Prophecy, the Seventh Hokage, was now dead.

...

...

...

* * *

...

...

...

Back at the Uzumaki Estate, at tea cup crashed to the floor and shattered. The woman who had dropped it didn't care. She could feel a dagger had gone through her heart, like a part of herself had left this world.

Sakura fell to her knees. All of that strength, all of that training, and yet none of it meant anything now. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. And somehow she knew exactly what it was.

"Naruto..."

She could feel that she wasn't alone. She turned, and Kushina was there, her form as distressed as she was.

No words were said between them. They both knew. And that was why the two women came into each other's arms and cried...

...

...

Heaven and Earth...separated at last...

* * *

Umm...yeah...wow. I really just did that. After writing Naruto fanfiction for over four and a half years, I actually just killed off Naruto...I almost an't believe myself.

Alright, I know that a lot of you, maybe most of you, are furious with me right now and I am sure I am going to be getting a lot of hate in the review section. Fair enough. But the fact is that this was always the way I imagined this story going. It's almost surreal that I finally made it this far, but here we are. Now I will let you know right here that I do have a plan, and it's a very unexpected and, I think, an exciting one. But I can't let you in on any of that stuff until I am finished with the next chapter. So I urge you all to please be patient and keep an open mind...and heart.

Anyway, the opening scene at the C.G.R.S.'s Headquarters was not something I originally intended on including here. But after including that scene with Gaara in the last chapter, and realizing that it had been a long time since we've checked in on Jōkā, I thought it was about time we caught back up with him and got that part of the plot rolling again.

Like with the last chapter, the second half of the fight with Sugure was difficult for me to plot, as fight scenes often are for me. This is largely because I always try to do my research into this world to make sure I get the details as correct as I can. I still screw things up here and there, but I put in the effort.

If I remember correctly, I refused to implement Naruto's Six Paths Sage Mode during the entirely of "Shinachiku's First Adventure, as I was afraid that it would make Naruto too overpowered and make the battle against Uragi too easy. But by the time I got to the battle against Sugure a genetically engineered superman made up of Naruto's, Sasuke's and Kaguya's DNA, well, suddenly that level of power seemed much more necessary, especially since I knew I was **not** going to repeat the kaiju battle from that story.

The final scene between Naruto and Sasuke was also very difficult since I needed to decide what would be the right things for the two of them to say. I admit that I might have made Sasuke a bit too out of character emotional during this scene, but it really wouldn't surprise me to see a scene in the Boruto manga where Naruto died and Sasuke totally broke down like this. One thing I _did_ know was what I wanted Naruto's last word to be.

If speaking of whom, I wanted to leave the chapter on a tragic and emotional note, and nothing made more sense to me than a crying scene between Sakura and Kushina...Again, I apologize, but I had to.

The last line of chapter is actually a callback to one of my early stories, "Heaven and Earth Together At Last."

As far as other references, I think we all know the big one this time around. Yes, the lines that Sugure says as he impales Naruto are directly based on what Thanos says to Iron Man in "Avengers: Infinity War." And yes, the way characters die in that story was on my mind when I implemented Sugure's All-Killing Ash Bones technique. It was such a shocking, brutal, tragic, and yet oddly beautiful way for Naruto to go, one I can see working really well in animation.

I think I've said enough for this time. Thank you all for reading, and I _really_ hope to see you all again for the next one.

Until next time, see ya!


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